KRONBERGER 49: A NEW LOW-MASS GLOBULAR CLUSTER OR AN UNPRECEDENTED BULGE WINDOW?

We employ optical and near-infrared photometry to study the stars in the direction of the star cluster candidate Kronberger 49. The optical color-magnitude diagrams (V, I, and Gunn z photometry obtained with the Galileo Telescope) are tight and present evidence of a main-sequence turnoff. We may be dealing with a low-mass, metal-rich globular cluster located in the bulge at a distance from the Sun of d(circle dot) = 8 +/- 1 kpc. Alternatively, it may be a dust hole through which we are sampling the bulge stellar population affected by a very low amount of differential reddening.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation

CNPq

CNPq

Fapesp

FAPESP

Italian Ministero dell'Universita e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica (MURST)

Italian Ministero dellUniversita e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica (MURST)

BASCAL CATA Center for Astrophysics and Associated Technologies

BASCAL CATA Center for Astrophysics and Associated Technologies [PFB-06]

Ministry for the Economy, Development, and Tourisms Programa Iniciativa Cientifica Milenio

Ministry for the Economy, Development, and Tourism's Programa Iniciativa Cientifica Milenio [P07-021-F]