Related papers: The Spatial Evolution of Stellar Structures in the…

Aims: Based on our well-determined sample of open clusters in the all-sky catalogue ASCC-2.5 we derive new linear sizes of some 600 clusters, and investigate the effect of mass segregation of stars in open clusters. Methods: Using…

We derived surface brightness profiles in the \emph{g} band for 170 Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) star clusters (SCs) mainly located in the central region of the galaxy. We provide a set of homogeneous structural parameters obtained by…

We examine the recent star formation associated with four supergiant shells (SGSs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC): LMC 1, 4, 5, and 6, which have been shown to have simple expanding-shell structures. H II regions and OB associations…

Context. The majority of massive stars are born with a close binary companion. How this affects their evolution and fate is still largely uncertain, especially at low metallicity. Aims. We derive synthetic populations of massive…

We present results based on YJKs photometry of star clusters located in the outermost, eastern region of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We analysed a total of 51 catalogued clusters whose colour--magnitude diagrams (CMDs), having been…

We report on a study of young star cluster complexes in the spiral galaxy M51. Recent studies have confirmed that star clusters do not form in isolation, but instead tend to form in larger groupings or complexes. We use {\it HST} broad and…

Using observations obtained with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we have studied the properties of the stellar populations in the central regions of 30 Dor, in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The…

We have undertaken a systematic study of pre-main sequence (PMS) stars spanning a wide range of masses (0.5 - 4 Msolar), metallicities (0.1 - 1 Zsolar) and ages (0.5 - 30 Myr). We have used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to identify and…

HST is very well tailored for observations of extragalactic star clusters. One obvious reason is HST's high spatial resolution, but equally important is the wavelength range offered by the instruments on board HST, in particular the blue…

We present Washington system colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) for 17 practically unstudied star clusters located in the bar as well as in the inner disc and outer regions of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Cluster sizes were estimated…

We report on the astrophysical properties of a sample of star clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). They have been selected with the aim of looking for the connection between their ages, heliocentric distances and metallicities with…

We study the distribution of stars, HII regions, molecular gas, and individual giant molecular clouds in M33 over a wide range of spatial scales. The clustering strength of these components is systematically estimated through the fractal…

We review progress in numerical simulations of star cluster formation. These simulations involve the bottom-up assembly of clusters through hierarchical mergers, which produces a fractal stellar distribution at young (~0.5 Myr) ages. The…

We present a detailed determination and analysis of 3D stellar mass distribution of the Galactic disk for mono-age populations using a sample of 0.93 million main-sequence turn-off and subgiant stars from the LAMOST Galactic Surveys. Our…

In the quest of understanding how star formation occurs and propagates in the low metallicity environment of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), we acquired deep F555W (~V), and F814W (~I) HST/ACS images of the young and massive star forming…

The characteristics of the cluster systems of the Magellanic Clouds, as inferred from integrated properties, are compared with those from individual cluster studies and from the field population. The agreement is generally satisfactory…

We present the spatially resolved star formation history (SFH) of a shell-like structure located in the northeastern Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We quantitatively obtain the SFH using unprecedented deep photometric data (g~24 magnitude)…

Stars mostly form in groups consisting of a few dozen to several ten thousand members. For 30 years, theoretical models provide a basic concept of how such star clusters form and develop: they originate from the gas and dust of collapsing…

This article compares the distribution of Ks magnitude of Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars obtained from the DENIS and 2MASS data with theoretical distributions. These have been constructed using up-to-date…

[abridged] How does a star cluster of more than few 10,000 solar masses form? We present the case of the cluster NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud, and its star-forming region N66, and we propose a scenario for its formation, based on…