Related papers: New HST Views at Old Stellar Systems
In this paper we present a multi-wavelength analysis of the complex stellar populations within the massive globular cluster Mayall II (G1), a satellite of the nearby Andromeda galaxy projected at a distance of 40 kpc. We used images…
We use the HB morphology of 48 Galactic GCs to study the radial distributions of the different stellar populations known to exist in globular clusters. Assuming that the (extremely) blue HB stars correspond to stars enriched in Helium and…
Abundance observations indicate the presence of rapid-neutron capture (i.e., r-process) elements in old Galactic halo and globular cluster stars. These observations provide insight into the nature of the earliest generations of stars in the…
We present deep V & I WFPC2 photometry in two fields in the M31 halo 32' and 50' from the center of M31 along the SE minor axis at the locations of the M31 GCs G302 and G312 respectively. The M31 halo LFs are not consistent with a single…
We investigate the integrated far-ultraviolet (FUV) emission from globular clusters. We present new FUV photometry of M~87's clusters based on archival HST WFPC2 F170W observations. We use these data to test the reliability of published…
Globular star clusters are compact and massive stellar systems old enough to have witnessed the entire history of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. Although recent results suggest that their formation may have been more complex than previously…
M54 is the central cluster of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. This stellar system is now in process of being disrupted by the tidal interaction with the Milky Way and represents one of the building blocks of the Galactic Halo. Recent…
In this paper we compare the properties of three sub-systems of Galactic globular clusters, which are defined according to metallicity and HB morphology. We focus on cluster luminosities, structures, surface brightnesses (SB) and…
We investigate the possibility that multiple populations in globular clusters arise as a natural by-product of massive star-cluster formation. We use 3D radiative hydrodynamics simulations for the formation of young massive clusters to…
The discovery of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, which is being tidally disrupted by and merging with the Milky Way, supports the view that the halo of the Galaxy has been built up at least partially by the accretion of similar dwarf systems.…
Some of the most massive globular clusters of our Milky Way, such as for example omega-Centauri, show a mixture of stellar populations spanning a few Gyr in age and 1.5 dex in metallicities. In contrast, standard formation scenarios predict…
Globular Cluster (GC) formation seems to be a widespread mode of star formation in extreme starbursts triggered by strong interactions and mergers of massive gas-rich galaxies. We use our detailed chemically consistent evolutionary…
Globular clusters are among the oldest structures in the Universe and they host today low-mass stars and no gas. However, there has been a time when they formed as gaseous objects hosting a large number of short-lived, massive stars. Many…
This paper explores the quantitative connection between globular clusters and the diffuse stellar population of the galaxies they are associated with. Both NGC 1399 and NGC 4486 (M87) are well suited for this kind of analysis due to their…
Stellar halos may hold some of the best preserved fossils of the formation history of galaxies. They are a natural product of the merging processes that probably take place during the assembly of a galaxy, and hence may well be the most…
We use a series of high-resolution N-body simulations of a `Milky-Way' halo, coupled to semi-analytic techniques, to study the formation of our own Galaxy and of its stellar halo. Our model Milky Way galaxy is a relatively young system…
The star formation, mass assembly and chemical enrichment histories of galaxies, and their present distributions of dark matter, remain encoded in their stellar populations. Distinguishing the actual distribution functions of stellar age,…
We present a structural analysis of halo star clusters in M31 based on deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) imaging. The clusters in our sample span a range in galactocentric projected distance from 13 to 100…
Recent observations have revealed that high surface-brightness, metal-rich debris is present over large regions of the Andromeda (M31) stellar halo. We use a set of numerical models to determine whether extended metal-rich debris is…
Globular clusters (GCs), the oldest stellar systems observed in the Milky Way, have for long been considered single stellar populations. As such, they provided an ideal laboratory to understand stellar dynamics and primordial star formation…