M. Parisi Abstract

Age and Metallicity Analysis of the Small Magellanic Cloud from Star Clusters

M.C. Parisi (Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba) , D. Geisler, G. Carraro, S. Villanova,  J.J. Clariá, E. Costa, et al.

We present metallicities for 15 Small Magellanic Cloud  (SMC) star clusters. We add to this information the ages and metallicities of 15 additional star clusters previously studied by Parisi et al. (2009, AJ, 138, 517) and Parisi et al. (2013, submitted) which were observed and analyzed following the same procedures as in the present work. Therefore, we compiled a sample of 30 SMC star clusters homogeneously studied. Metallicities are determined from the Calcium II triplet lines in spectra obtained using FORS2 multi-object spectrograph on the VLT (Paranal, Chile) and ages are determined from Color-Magnitude Diagrams built from photometry on the pre-images. Using this sample, we now here analyze the chemical properties of the SMC, particularly the Age-Metallicity Relation. We found three new old clusters which help to fill the so called  SMC ``age gap'' between L1 and NGC121. These new old SMC clusters broadly increase our knowledge of the chemical evolution of this galaxy during the earliest epochs.