Eight more low luminosity globular clusters in the Sagittarius dwarf
  galaxy
  Context. The Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf galaxy is merging with the Milky Way,
and the study of its globular clusters (GCs) is important to understand the
history and outcome of this ongoing process. Aims. Our main goal is to
characterize the GC system of the Sgr dwarf galaxy. This task is hampered by
high foreground stellar contamination, mostly from the Galactic bulge. Methods.
We performed a GC search specifically tailored to find new GC members within
the main body of this dwarf galaxy using the combined data of the VISTA
Variables in the Via Lactea Extended Survey (VVVX) near-infrared survey and the
Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) optical database. Results. We applied proper
motion (PM) cuts to discard foreground bulge and disk stars, and we found a
number of GC candidates in the main body of the Sgr dwarf galaxy. We selected
the best GCs as those objects that have significant overdensities above the
stellar background of the Sgr galaxy and that possess color-magnitude diagrams
(CMDs) with well-defined red giant branches (RGBs) consistent with the distance
and reddening of this galaxy. Conclusions. We discover eight new GC members of
the Sgr galaxy, which adds up to 29 total GCs known in this dwarf galaxy. This
total number of GCs shows that the Sgr dwarf galaxy hosts a rather rich GC
system. Most of the new GCs appear to be predominantly metal-rich and have low
luminosity. In addition, we identify ten other GC candidates that are more
uncertain and need more data for proper confirmation.
