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Young and Intermediate Age Star Clusters and Diffuse Structures in GALEX Images of the Large Magellanic Cloud

Presentation #150.08 in the session “Star Clusters: Galactic, Extragalactic & Simulated”.

Published onJan 11, 2021
Young and Intermediate Age Star Clusters and Diffuse Structures in GALEX Images of the Large Magellanic Cloud

The Large Magellanic Cloud is one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way, and it contains many unique characteristics and phenomena that can be observed through images taken in the ultraviolet. Using a near-ultraviolet image of the LMC obtained by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission, we used existing LMC stellar cluster catalogs (e.g. Glatt et al. 2010; Gatto et al. 2020) to search for clusters and associations with young and intermediate age stars and interesting UV morphologies. Aperture photometry in the UV was used to measure UV flux, radii and concentration. We infer stellar ages from model fits to UV-optical photometry, and compare to ages from optically-derived ages from existing catalogs. Age parameters were studied in relation to cluster magnitude, mass and concentration. An Hα image is utilized to compare with morphologies found in the GALEX image, probing the most massive and youngest star clusters. As part of this effort we have also created a new catalog with numerous diffuse spherical and wispy regions in the NUV that reside mostly on the outskirts of the LMC. We have been investigating the origin of this diffuse NUV light, through comparison with multiwavelength images and catalogs, studying what these structures are, and what they tell us about the stellar clusters that they surround.

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