We present a photometric study of the prototype merger remnant NGC 3610 and its globular cluster ( GC ) system , based on new GEMINI/GMOS and ACS/HST archival images .
Thanks to the large FOV of our GMOS data , larger than previous studies , we are able to detect a ‘ classical ’ bimodal GC colour distribution , corresponding to metal-poor and metal-rich GCs , at intermediate radii and a small subsample of likely young clusters of intermediate colours , mainly located in the outskirts .
The extent of the whole GC system is settled as about 40 kpc .
The GC population is quite poor , about 500 \pm 110 members that corresponds to a low total specific frequency S _ { N } \sim 0.8 .
The effective radii of a cluster sample are determined , including those of two spectroscopically confirmed young and metal-rich clusters , that are in the limit between GC and UCD sizes and brightness .
The large-scale galaxy surface-brightness profile can be decomposed as an inner embedded disc and an outer spheroid , determining for both larger extents than earlier research ( 10 kpc and 30 kpc , respectively ) .
We detect boxy isophotes , expected in merger remnants , and show a wealth of fine-structure in the surface-brightness distribution with unprecedented detail , coincident with the outer spheroid .
The lack of symmetry in the galaxy colour map adds a new piece of evidence to the recent merger scenario of NGC 3610 .