We present a Washington C and Kron–Cousins R photometric study of the globular cluster system of NGC 1399 , the central galaxy of the Fornax cluster .
A large areal coverage of 1 square degree around NGC 1399 is achieved with three adjoining fields of the MOSAIC II Imager at the CTIO 4-m telescope .
Working on such a large field , we can perform the first indicative determination of the total size of the NGC 1399 globular cluster system .
The estimated angular extent , measured from the NGC 1399 centre and up to a limiting radius where the areal density of blue globular clusters falls to 30 per cent of the background level , is 45 \pm 5 arcmin , which corresponds to 220 – 275 kpc at the Fornax distance .
The bimodal colour distribution of this globular cluster system , as well as the different radial distribution of blue and red clusters , up to these large distances from the parent galaxy , are confirmed .
The azimuthal globular cluster distribution exhibits asymmetries that might be understood in terms of tidal stripping of globulars from NGC 1387 , a nearby galaxy .
The good agreement between the areal density profile of blue clusters and a projected dark-matter NFW density profile is emphasized .