Open AccessYoung star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud: NGC 1805 and 1818
Author(s) -
Johnson R. A.,
Beaulieu S. F.,
Gilmore G. F.,
Hurley J.,
Santiago B. X.,
Tanvir N. R.,
Elson R. A. W.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04291.x
Subject(s) - physics , large magellanic cloud , astrophysics , star cluster , stellar population , astronomy , hubble space telescope , blue straggler , star formation , cluster (spacecraft) , star (game theory) , stars , computer science , programming language
We present colour–magnitude diagrams for two rich (≈10 4 M ⊙ ) Large Magellanic Cloud star clusters with ages ≈10 7 yr, constructed from optical and near‐infrared data obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope . These data are part of an HST project to study LMC clusters with a range of ages. In this paper we investigate the massive star content of the young clusters, and determine the cluster ages and metallicities, paying particular attention to Be‐star and blue‐straggler populations and evidence of age spreads. We compare our data with detailed stellar‐population simulations to investigate the turn‐off structure of ≈25 Myr stellar systems, highlighting the complexity of the blue‐straggler phenomenon.