DDO integrated photometry of globular clusters and initial chemical evolution of the galaxy

Integrated photometry of 91 galactic globular clusters was carried out with theUBV and DDO systems. A method to determine reddening is presented. Metal abundances were obtained by means of a calibration ofC(42–45)₀ vs [Fe/H]. Thirteen other clusters whose metallicity values were made compatible with those observed here, were added to the sample totalizing a homogenous set of [Fe/H] estimates for 104 globular clusters. This sample is used to analyze the spatial distribution of metallicities. An estimate of the intrinsic metal abundance frequency distribution of the globular cluster system is provided. The chemical properties of the globular cluster system are compared with one-zone-chemical-enrichment models which take into account gas loss from star formation regions. It is concluded that these models cannot describe the complete chemical enrichment of the globular cluster system.     

The embedded cluster DBSB 48 in the nebula Hoffleit 18: Comparison with Trumpler 14

We derive fundamental parameters of the embedded cluster DBSB 48 in the southern nebula Hoffleit 18 and the very young open cluster Trumpler 14, by means of deep JHK_s infrared photometry. We build colour–magnitude and colour–colour diagrams to derive reddening and age, based on main sequence and pre-main sequence distributions. Radial stellar density profiles are used to study cluster structure and guide photometric diagram extractions. Field-star decontamination is applied to uncover the intrinsic cluster sequences in the diagrams. Ages are inferred from K-excess fractions. A prominent pre-main sequence population is present in DBSB 48, and the K-excess fraction f_K = 55 ± 6% gives an age of 1.1 ± 0.5 Myr. A mean reddening of A_Ks=0.9±0.03 was found, corresponding to A_V = 8.2 ± 0.3. The cluster CMD is consistent with the far kinematic distance of 5 kpc for Hoffleit 18. For Trumpler 14 we derived similar parameters as in previous studies in the optical, in particular an age of 1.7 ± 0.7 Myr. The fraction of stars with infrared excess in Trumpler 14 is f_K = 28 ± 4%. Despite the young ages, both clusters are described by a King profile with core radii R_core = 0.46 ± 0.05 pc and R_core = 0.35 ± 0.04 pc, respectively, for DBSB 48 and Trumpler 14. Such cores are smaller than those of typical open clusters. Small cores are probably related to the cluster formation and/or parent molecular cloud fragmentation. In DBSB 48, the magnitude extent of the upper main sequence is ΔK_s ≈ 2 mag, while in Trumpler 14 it is ΔK_s ≈ 5 mag, consistent with the estimated ages.     

Integrated spectral properties of four previously unstudied small angular size galactic open clusters

We have derived fundamental parameters for the previously unstudied concentrated Galactic open clusters Berkeley 77, NGC2587, BH58 and ESO324‐SC15 by means of integrated spectroscopy in the range 3800–6800 Å. The cluster integrated spectra are compared with those of solar metallicity template spectra of Galactic open clusters with known parameters. The spectra were obtained at CASLEO (San Juan, Argentina) with a resolution of 14 Å.We estimated simultaneously age and foreground interstellar reddening by comparing the continuum distribution and line strengths of the cluster spectra with those of template spectra. Berkeley 77 was found to be an old cluster of 3–4 Gyr, while the remaining three clusters are between 400 and 1000 Myr old. The derived foreground reddening values range from E (B – V) = 0.0 in NGC2587 and ESO324‐SC15 to approximately 0.30 in Berkeley 77. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)