The Star Formation History of the Magellanic Clouds: Latest Results

¹ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Calle via Lactea s/n, 38205 La Laguna, Spain
² Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy
⁴ Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, Victoria, Canada
⁵ Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, NOAO, La Serena, Chile

e-mail: monelli@iac.es

Abstract

We present new results of a long-term investigation of the stellar content of the Large and the Small Magellanic Cloud. The main aim of the project is to obtain a comprehensive knowledge of the star formation history of these two nearby galaxies. Here we discuss the latest findings obtained using new data and a variety of different observational approaches, based on wide-field ground-based photometry and low-resolution CaT spectra. We find evidence of two main star formation events across the LMC disk. We also found evidence that the young and intermediate age population (<5 Gyr) presents a steeper gradient with radius than the old one (>8 Gyr). In particular, the young (<2 Gyr) component seems to extend to 8 degrees from the center, distance at which it decreases abruptly. At larger distance, the old population dominates, extending to at least 13.5 kpc. We also report the discovery of a population of stars located across the Magellanic Bridge, compatible with the old population of the LMC.