Bulg. J. Phys. vol.34 no.s2 (2007), pp. 210-213



On Galactocentric Orbits of Globular Clusters

S. Ninković1, N. Pejović2
1Astronomska opservatorija, Volgina 7, 11 160 Beograd 74, Serbia
2Matematički fakultet, Studentski trg 16, 11 000 Beograd, Serbia
Abstract. A review of galactocentric orbits for many globular clusters is given. It is pointed out that the proper-motion data, necessary to orbit determinations, are still not sufficiently reliable. On the other hand, realistic models of the Milky Way yield very similar galactocentric orbits for the same globular cluster. However, slight changes of both the parameters of a Milky-Way model and initial conditions can result in strong changes of the shapes of these orbits, though the dimensions remain practically unchanged. As a possible interpretation the present authors suggest that the so-called box orbits might be explained by using the two classical integrals (energy and angular momentum) only.

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