The NGC 1399 globular cluster system: Washington photometry revisited

A new analysis and discussion of Washington CCD photometry for some 500 globular cluster candidates associated with the Fornax cluster cD galaxy NGC 1399 are presented. The image handling in this work includes improved methods for the removal of both the galaxy halo and fringing effects over that employed in a previous work of ours. The analysis of the globular cluster candidates inside an annular region between 0.'5 and 4' from the galaxy center using two-color diagrams shows a clear bimodal distribution for objects fainter than T-1 = 21.0 (V approximate to 21.5). The modal colors of the globular clusters belonging to the red population are coincident, within the measuring uncertainties, with those of the galaxy halo. In turn, the average integrated colors of the blue population are comparable to those of the bluest non-star-forming low surface brightness galaxies in Fornax. Red clusters appear more centrally concentrated than the blue clusters. A new determination of the integrated luminosity function turnover (T-1 = 23.24) leads to a distance modulus for NGC 1399 of V-o - M-v = 31.02 +/- 0.2. The total number of globular clusters, combined with our preliminary photometry of the galaxy halo, leads to an overall specific frequency S-N = 5.6 +/- 1.0, which is considerably lower than previous estimates available in the literature. We note that these last values have been based on an extrapolation of aperture photometry of the inner regions of the galaxy.