We investigate the star formation history and metallicity of the Local Group irregular dwarf galaxy WLM using wide-field JHK near-infrared imaging, spanning a region of approximately 1 sq. degree, obtained with WFCAM on UKIRT. JHK photometry clearly reveals the tip of the red giant branch, allowing a new estimate of the distance, and allows ready identification of C-type and M-type AGB stars. The C/M ratio was used to produce a surface map of the metallicity distribution which is compared to previous studies. Multi-wavelength spectral energy distributions (SEDs) were constructed for some AGB stars.
@article{arxiv.1011.2495,
title = {AGB Stars in WLM},
author = {Benjamin Tatton and Maria-Rosa Cioni and Mike Irwin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1011.2495},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
2 pages, proceedings for "Why Galaxies Care about AGB Stars II" conference (Vienna, Aug. 2010); to be published in ASP Conference Series