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The age-abundance relations and age distributions for the star clusters of the Magellanic Clouds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2016

G. S. Da Costa
G. S. Da Costa*
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, P.O. Box 296, Epping, NSW 2121, Australia

Abstract

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A sample of Large Magellanic Clouds (LMC) and Small Magellanic Clouds (SMC) clusters for which ages have been directly determined from main sequence turnoff photometry has been compiled. According to this sample, the LMC and SMC cluster age distributions are very different. The LMC contains a large population of 1 to 3 Gyr old clusters as well as a small number of clusters that appear to be as old as the Galactic halo globular clusters. Surprisingly however, only a single cluster is known with an age in the interval between 3 Gyr and the age, taken as 15 Gyr, of the oldest clusters. The SMC age distribution, on the other hand, is much broader. It extends back to approximately 12 Gyr but there appear to be no SMC clusters as old as the oldest in the LMC. The sample of clusters is also used to discuss the age-abundance relations for both galaxies. Little can be learned for the LMC but it appears that the chemical evolution of the SMC differed in form from that experienced in the solar neighbourhood. The first results of an imaging survey designed to find LMC clusters with ages exceeding 3 Gyr are also described.

Type
Star Formation and Clustering
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 148: The Magellanic Clouds , 1991 , pp. 183 - 189
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1991 

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