Related papers: Age Gradient and the Second Parameter Problem in t…
It is widely accepted that individual Galactic globular clusters harbor two coeval generations of stars, the first one born with the `standard' alpha-enhanced metal mixture observed in field Halo objects, the second one characterized by an…
The four main findings about the age and abundance structure of the Milky Way bulge based on microlensed dwarf and subgiant stars are: (1) a wide metallicity distribution with distinct peaks at [Fe/H]=-1.09, -0.63, -0.20, +0.12, +0.41; (2)…
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.…
The small group of Galactic Globular Clusters (GGC) (Pal 12, Terzan 7, Ruprecht 106, Arp 2) recently discovered to be significantly younger (by ~3-4 Gyr) than the average cluster population of the Galaxy are shown to lie near planes passing…
Recent analyses of solar spectroscopic data (see Asplund, Grevesse & Sauval 2004 and references therein) suggest a significative variation of the heavy elements abundance. The change of heavy mixture might affect the determination of the…
Recent studies have shown that the observed main-sequence turn-off (MSTO) in colour-magnitude diagrams of intermediate age (1-2 Gyr) clusters in the LMC are broader than would be nominally expected for a simple stellar population. This has…
The present paper presents a tabulation of data on all 600 Galactic open clusters for which it is presently possible to calculate linear diameters. As expected, the youngest `clusters' with ages < 15 Myr, contain a significant (greater than…
This paper explores if, and to what an extent, the stellar populations of early type galaxies can be traced through the colour distribution of their globular cluster systems. The analysis, based on a galaxy sample from the Virgo ACS data,…
We aim to analyze the chemical evolution of the Small Magellanic Cloud adding 12 additional clusters to our existing sample having accurate and homogeneously derived metallicities. We are particularly interested in seeing if there is any…
The outer halo regions of early-type galaxies carry key information about their past accretion history. However, spectroscopically probing the stellar component at such galactocentric radii is still challenging. Using Keck/DEIMOS, we have…
We present new multiband photometry for the Galactic globular cluster IC 4499 extending well past the main sequence turn-off in the U, B, V, R, I, and DDO51 bands. This photometry is used to determine that IC4499 has an age of 12 pm 1 Gyr…
The horizontal branch (HB) morphology of globular clusters (GCs) is mainly determined by metallicity. However, the fact that GCs with almost the same metallicity exhibit different HB morphologies demonstrates that at least one more…
The degree of influence that environment and mass have on the stellar populations of early-type galaxies is uncertain. In this paper we present the results of a spectroscopic analysis of the stellar populations of early-type galaxies aimed…
(Abridged) We study the nuclear star clusters in spiral galaxies of various Hubble types using spectra obtained with STIS on-board HST. We observed the nuclear clusters in 40 galaxies, selected from two previous HST/WFPC2 imaging surveys.…
The formation details of globular clusters (GCs) are still poorly understood due to their old ages and the lack of detailed observations of their formation. A large variety of models for the formation and evolution of GCs have been created…
Globular clusters (GCs) are the oldest stellar systems in the Milky Way. Long time considered as simple stellar populations, nowadays we recognize their complex star formation history through precise abundance analysis of a variety of…
New ages are computed for stars in the Solar Neighbourhood from the Edvardsson et al. (1993) data set. Distances derived from the Hipparcos parallaxes were adopted to obtain reliable ages (uncertainty less than 12%) for a subset of stars.…
We present a study correlating the spatial locations of young star clusters with those of molecular clouds in NGC~5194, in order to investigate the timescale over which clusters separate from their birth clouds. The star cluster catalogues…
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…
Globular clusters are the oldest conglomerates of stars in our Galaxy and can be useful laboratories to test theories from stellar evolution to cosmology. In this paper, we present a new method to estimate the absolute age of a globular…