Long Tidal Tails of NGC 5024 Hidden in LMS-1 and NGC 5053 Tidal Streams

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

We report the discovery of long tidal tails associated with the globular cluster (GC) NGC 5024. A modified matched filter applied to Gaia DR3 data reveals a broad stellar stream spanning α ≈ 230°–175°. The stellar stream overlaps on the sky with the LMS-1 and with the simulated stream of the GC NGC 5053, and all three share similar proper motions and metallicity. Our member candidates may therefore be a mixture of stars from NGC 5024, NGC 5053, and LMS-1. Nevertheless, the trailing tail extends roughly 20° beyond the known LMS-1 stream. Furthermore, the radial velocity (RV) as a function of α is used to distinguish the genuine stream candidates of NGC 5024 from the streams of NGC 5053 and LMS-1. Among the sources in common with DESI DR1, we found two distinct sequences in the RV– α plane, corresponding to the stellar streams of NGC 5024 and NGC 5053 (or LMS-1), respectively. This constitutes the first strong evidence for the existence of extensive tidal tails around NGC 5024.