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Structural parameters of seven small magellanic cloud intermediate-age and old star clusters

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

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  • Katharina Glatt
  • Eva K. Grebel
  • John S. Gallagher III
  • Antonella Nota
  • Elena Sabbi
  • Marco Sirianni
  • Gisella Clementini
  • Gary Da Costa
  • Monica Tosi
  • Daniel Harbeck
  • Andreas Koch
  • Andrea Kayser
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<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/10/2009
<mark>Journal</mark>The Astronomical Journal
Issue number5
Volume138
Number of pages14
Pages (from-to)1403-1416
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

We present structural parameters for the seven intermediate-age and old star clusters NGC 121, Lindsay 1, Kron 3, NGC 339, NGC 416, Lindsay 38, and NGC 419 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We fit King profiles and Elson, Fall, and Freeman profiles to both surface-brightness and star-count data taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. Clusters older than ~1 Gyr show a spread in cluster core radii that increases with age, while the youngest clusters have relatively compact cores. No evidence for post-core-collapse clusters was found. We find no correlation between core radius and distance from the SMC center, although consistent with other studies of dwarf galaxies, some relatively old and massive clusters have low densities. The oldest SMC star cluster, the only globular NGC121, is the most elliptical object of the studied clusters. No correlation is seen between ellipticity and distance from the SMC center. The structures of these massive intermediate-age (1-8 Gyr) SMC star clusters thus appear to primarily result from internal evolutionary processes.

Bibliographic note

16 pages, 13 figures