Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1996-01-05
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
6 pages including 2 figures, gzip'ed and uuencoded postscript file, to appear in "From Stars to Galaxies: The Impact of Stella
Scientific paper
We present photometry for stars in the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy that is unprecedented in depth, accuracy and spatial coverage. Our data demonstrate that Carina has had a surprisingly complex evolution dominated by episodic bursts of star formation. Comparing the color-magnitude diagram with new theoretical isochrones, we determine that the ages of the ``bursts'' are approximately 2, 3--6, and 11--13 Gyr. Note that the ``bursts'' and quiescent phases lasted for <~1 Gyr, which are much longer than the ~0.1 Gyr dynamical timescale in the galaxy. Each main-sequence turnoff in Carina connects to a single red giant branch, which tells us that, regardless of age, Carina stars are metal-poor with [Fe/H]~= -1.86 and a spread in metal abundance of only 0.2 dex. Thus the process of star formation, and the loss of metal-enriched gas from supernovae-drive winds, in this low mass dwarf galaxy occurred episodically over many Gyr rather than in a single, brief episode.
Hesser James Edward
Smecker-Hane Tammy Ann
Stetson Peter B.
VandenBerg Don. A.
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