Related papers: New HST Views at Old Stellar Systems
Star formation in starbursts appears to be biased toward compact clusters, with up to 20% of all stars formed in them. Observations with HST show that many of these clusters have luminosities (-9 > Mv > -16), UBVI colors, and half-light…
Globular clusters contain many stars with surface abundance patterns indicating contributions from hydrogen burning products, as seen in the anti-correlated elemental abundances of e.g. sodium and oxygen, and magnesium and aluminium.…
It has become clear in recent years that globular clusters are not simple stellar populations, but may host chemically distinct sub-populations, typically with an enhanced helium abundance. These helium-rich populations can make up a…
Halo globular clusters pose four succinct issues that must be solved in any scenario of their formation: single-age, single metallicity stellar populations; a lower limit ([Fe/H] ~ -2.3) to their average metallicity; comprising only 1% of…
We take a closer look at our published results of determination of ages, metallicities, helium mass fractions and abundances of chemical elements in Galactic globular clusters in order to find possible signatures of the phenomenon of…
If the stellar halos of disk galaxies are built up from the disruption of dwarf galaxies, models predict highly structured variations in the stellar populations within these halos. We test this prediction by studying the ratio of blue…
The properties of old globular cluster systems in galaxy halos are used to infer quantitative constraints on aspects of generic star (cluster) formation. First, the spatial distribution of globulars in three large galaxies, together with…
In order to investigate the origin of multiple stellar populations in the halo and bulge of the Milky Way, we have constructed chemical evolution models for the low-mass proto-Galactic subsystems such as globular clusters (GCs). Unlike…
Globular cluster systems exhibit a bewildering variety of characteristics. No single scenario appears to be able to account for the wide range of specific globular cluster frequencies that are observed in galaxies of various types. The…
Multiple stellar populations in the Milky Way globular clusters manifest themselves with a large variety. Although chemical abundance variations in light elements, including He, are ubiquitous, the amount of these variations is different in…
The spreads in chemical abundances inferred by recent precision observations suggest that some or possibly all globular clusters can no longer be considered as simple stellar populations. The most striking case is omega Cen in the sense…
The stellar population of the Milky Way bulge is thoroughly studied, with a plethora of measurements from virtually the full suite of instruments available to astronomers. It is thus perhaps surprising that alongside well-established…
We present a high precision photometric view of the stellar populations in the outer halo of M31, using data taken with the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS). We analyse the field populations adjacent to 11…
We have obtained HST/STIS far- and near-UV photometry of globular clusters in four fields in the gE galaxy M87. To a limit of m(FUV) = 25 we detect a total of 66 globular clusters (GCs) in common with the deep HST optical-band study of…
We have applied the MCS image deconvolution algorithm (Magain, Courbin & Sohy 1998) to HST/WFPC2 V, I data of three M31 bulge globular clusters (G170, G177, and G198) and control fields near each cluster. All three clusters are clearly…
The HST data archive contains images of several nearby spirals, suitable for detailed studies of the properties of individual star clusters and their surroundings. By combining structural information derived from HST images with…
Star clusters have hierarchical patterns in space and time, suggesting formation processes in the densest regions of a turbulent interstellar medium. Clusters also have hierarchical substructure when they are young, which makes them all…
This is a "biased" review because I will show recent evidence on the contribution of globular clusters (GCs) to the halo of our Galaxy seen through the lens of the new paradigm of multiple populations in GCs. I will show a few examples…
In this study we present first results from multi-wavelength Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the Galactic globular cluster GC NGC2808 as an extension of the Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic GCs (GO-13297 and…
Horizontal Branch stars belong to an advanced stage in the evolution of the oldest stellar galactic population, occurring either as field halo stars or grouped in globular clusters. The discovery of multiple populations in these clusters,…