WFPC2 Observations of Star Clusters in the Magellanic Clouds. II. The Oldest Star Clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud

Abstract

We present our analysis of archival Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) observations in F450W (~B) and F555W (~V) of the intermediate- age populous star clusters NGC 121, NGC 339, NGC 361, NGC 416, and Kron 3 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We use published photometry of two other SMC populous star clusters, Lindsay 1 and Lindsay 113, to investigate the age sequence of these seven populous star clusters in order to improve our understanding of the formation chronology of the SMC. We analyzed the V vs (B-V) and M_V vs (B-V)_0 color-magnitude diagrams of these populous Small Magellanic Cloud star clusters using a variety of techniques and determined their ages, metallicities, and reddenings. These new data enable us to improve the age-metallicity relation of star clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud. In particular, we find that a closed-box continuous star-formation model does not reproduce the age-metallicity relation adequately. However, a theoretical model punctuated by bursts of star formation is in better agreement with the observational data presented herein.

20 pages (LaTeX+aaspp4.sty), 10 tables (PostScript format) and 14 figures (PostScript format). The PostScript version of the paper, tables, and full-resolution figures is available at http://www.noao.edu/noao/staff/mighell/oldsmc/ To appear in the Astronomical Journal (accepted 1998 August 10)

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