Star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud. III. A study of the regions LMC-30, LMC-45 and LMC-61.

Vallenari, A.; Chiosi, C.; Bertelli, G.; Aparicio, A.; Ortolani, S.
Referencia bibliográfica

Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.309, p.367-374

Fecha de publicación:
5
1996
Número de autores
5
Número de autores del IAC
1
Número de citas
47
Número de citas referidas
40
Descripción
In this paper we present the BV-CCD photometry of three stellar fields of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). They are taken at the center of V-charts of the Hodge & Wright (1967) catalog after which they are named. The fields under examination are LMC-30 (2degNorth-West of the Bar), LMC-45 ( 2degNorth of the Bar) and LMC-61 ( 3degNorth-East of the Bar). Their color-magnitude diagrams (CMD) and luminosity functions (LF) are studied using the R-method of Bertelli et al. (1992) with the aim of reconstructing the past history of star formation in these regions. We find that the bulk of star formation took place at different epochs in the three regions: about 2Gyr ago in LMC-30, about 2.5Gyr ago in LMC-45, and about 4Gyr ago in LMC-61. These results are combined with those obtained by Bertelli et al. (1992) and Vallenari et al. (1995) for other areas of the LMC and a preliminary cartography of the star formation history across the LMC is attempted.