Session 79 - Star Clusters in Other Galaxies.
Display session, Friday, January 09
Exhibit Hall,

## [79.02] Deep CCD Photometry and RR Lyrae Survey for the Outer-Halo Globular Cluster NGC 6229

M. Catelan (NASA/GSFC), J. Borissova, N. Spassova (Bulg. Acad. Sc.), F. R. Ferraro (Oss. Astr. Bologna), R. Buonanno (Oss. Astr. Monte Porzio), A. V. Sweigart (NASA/GSFC)

Deep BV CCD photometry for a large field covering the outer-halo Galactic globular cluster NGC 6229 is presented. For the first time, a color-magnitude diagram (CMD) reaching below the main-sequence turnoff has been obtained for this cluster. Previous results regarding the overall morphology of the horizontal and giant branches are confirmed. In addition, several candidate blue straggler stars are identified. However, a preliminary analysis of the cluster's CMD suggests that the putative extreme horizontal branch population suggested by Borissova et al. (1997, AJ, 113, 692) may not be present. Unfortunately, the innermost cluster regions could not be studied due to crowding. Comparison of the cluster CMD locus with the latest isochrones from VandenBerg (1997, private communication) is also presented, as is a study of the cluster age relative to a few well-studied reference globulars, using both the horizontal" and vertical" methods.

We also report on an investigation of the variable stars in NGC 6229. We obtained new light curves and re-derived the periods, amplitudes and mean V and B-V magnitudes for 17 RR Lyrae stars listed in Sawyer Hogg's (1973, Publ. David Dunlap Obs., 3, No. 6) catalog. We obtained the first light curves for the RR Lyrae candidates No. 155 and No. 88 (Carney et al. 1991, AJ, 101, 1699), and confirm variability of their star No. 134, as well as of the RR Lyrae stars V3, V8 and V12 suspected by Borissova et al. (1997). A search for variable stars in our 5 \times 5 arcmin field does not lead to any new variable candidates.