Related papers: New HST Views at Old Stellar Systems
Deep color magnitude diagrams extending to the main sequence provide the most direct measure of the detailed star formation history in a stellar population. With large investments of observing time, HST can obtain such data for populations…
Most Globular Clusters so far examined host (at least) two stellar populations. This feature requires a two--step process, in which the nuclearly processed matter from a first generation (FG) of stars gives birth to a second generation (SG)…
In a previous study it was proposed that the Galactic dark matter being detected by gravitational microlensing experiments such as MACHO may reside in a population of dim halo globular clusters comprising mostly or entirely low-mass stars…
The origin of the chemical anomalies in star clusters is still an open question, although much effort has been employed both from a theoretical and observational point of view. The exploration of whether such multiple stellar populations…
Stars in star clusters are thought to form in a single burst from a common progenitor cloud of molecular gas. However, massive, old globular clusters -- with ages greater than 10 billion years and masses of several hundred thousand solar…
We use images acquired with the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 and new models to probe the Horizontal Branch (HB) population of the We use images acquired with the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 and new models to…
We use Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging from the ACS Treasury Survey to determine fits for single population isochrones of 69 Galactic globular clusters. Using robust Bayesian analysis techniques, we simultaneously determine ages,…
We discuss the existence of a mass-metallicity relation among galactic halo globular clusters. The lack of any luminosity-metallicity correlation in globular cluster systems has been used as an argument against self-enrichment models of…
We combine a new, comprehensive database for globular cluster populations in all types of galaxies with a new calibration of galaxy halo masses based entirely on weak lensing. Correlating these two sets of data, we find that the mass ratio…
A homogeneous spectroscopic analysis of unevolved and evolved stars in the metal-poor globular cluster NGC 6397 with FLAMES-UVES reveals systematic trends of stellar surface abundances that are likely caused by atomic diffusion. This…
Recent surveys of star forming regions have shown that most stars, and probably all massive stars, are born in dense stellar clusters. The mechanism by which a molecular cloud fragments to form several hundred to thousands of individual…
The high spatial resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has led to tremendous progress in many areas of astronomy. The ability of the HST to peer into the bright inner regions of galaxies and distinguish between globular clusters…
With the aim of increasing the sample of M31 clusters for which a colour magnitude diagram is available, we searched the HST archive for ACS images containing objects included in the Revised Bologna Catalogue of M31 globular clusters.…
We present some preliminary results from an on-going study of the evolution of stellar populations in rich clusters of galaxies. This sample contains core line-strength measurements from 183 galaxies with b_J <= 19.5 from four clusters with…
The formation of populous secondary star cluster systems is a widespread phenomenon in mergers of gas-rich galaxies. Many, if not most, of those clusters are massive and compact enough to be young globular clusters (GCs). GC systems in most…
Some globular clusters are observed to host a population of second generation (SG) stars which show chemical anomalies and must have formed from gas containing matter processed in the envelopes of first generation (FG) cluster stars. We…
Most inhomogeneities in the chemical composition of GC stars are due to primordial enrichment. The model today most credited is that the winds lost by high mass Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars, evolving during the first $\simlt$200Myr…
We derive the effective temperatures and gravities of 461 OB stars in 19 young clusters by fitting the H-gamma profile in their spectra. We use synthetic model profiles for rotating stars to develop a method to estimate the polar gravity…
Galaxy haloes contain fundamental clues about the galaxy formation and evolution process: hierarchical cosmological models predict haloes to be ubiquitous, and to be (at least in part) the product of past merger and/or accretion events. The…
Recent wide-field photometric surveys (Lee et al.; Pancino et al.) have shown the existence of a previously unknown metal-rich ([Fe/H] -0.6) stellar population in the galactic globular cluster omega Centauri. The discovery of this new…