Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994aas...185.5106s&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, 185th AAS Meeting, #51.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 26, p.1396
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
5
Scientific paper
We present evidence for bursts in the star-formation history of the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy, a nearby satellite of the Galaxy. Our long range goal is to determine the star-formation history and chemical evolution of dwarf galaxies. Two questions we seek to answer are whether bursts of star formation are common in dwarfs, and how important are massive dark-matter halos and galactic winds in shaping their evolution. We present a deep color-magnitude diagram of Carina obtained with the CTIO 4m telescope in B and R filters that reaches to V=24.5. At least four distinct main-sequence turnoffs are apparent. Using the Revised Yale Isochrones (Green, et al. 1987) as a comparison, we find stellar populations with approximate ages of 4 Gyr, 5-8 Gyr, and 12-15 Gyr. Also, we find a sequence which may represent very young stars (2 Gyr) or a population of blue stragglers. Notable is the relative absence of stars with ages of ~ 8-12 Gyr, which suggests a hiatus in star formation lasting for several Gyr. Clearly, this small galaxy on the periphery of the Milky Way (RGC = 105 kpc) has had a much more complex evolution than globular clusters at comparable RGC. Comparing the observed color-magnitude diagram to new theoretical models and comparison with globular clusters will allow us to better estimate the ages of Carina stars and infer its star-formation history.
Hesser James Edward
Smecker-Hane Tammy Ann
Stetson Peter B.
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