Program: GN-2007A-Q-59

The deepest optical observations of any globular cluster have recently been obtained with HST for M4 and NGC 6397. In the NGC 6397 data we observed both a truncation in the white dwarf cooling sequence and the hydrogen-burning limit in this metal poor cluster. These HST programs required 100+ orbits, so we recently began a program with Gemini that will probe masses at the hydrogen burning limit with ultra-deep (H_limit and K_limit ~ 25.3) infrared NIRI + Altair images. Our first cluster observed was M71 - the nearest metal rich cluster available from the north. We obtained excellent NIRI + ALTAIR images for the cluster core and a first pass on the reduction of these data are complete. In this current proposal we wish to obtain a second epoch of data which will allow us to proper motion clean the data and explore the dynamics in the centre of the cluster including searching for a possible black hole.