We show that the observed spread in magnitude of He-burning stars clumping along the red giant branch in not-too-old metal poor stellar clusters can be used to get an upper limit for the cluster age. As a result we find that the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo I appears even younger than previously suggested, with an age lower or of the order of 2.0 Gyr. Firmer conclusions will be reached when detecting the cluster main sequence turn-off which is expected in the range of V = 24-24.3 mag, depending on the actual cluster age.
VERTICAL HORIZONTAL BRANCHES AND THE AGE OF THE DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXY LEO-I
DEGL'INNOCENTI, SCILLA
1995-01-01
Abstract
We show that the observed spread in magnitude of He-burning stars clumping along the red giant branch in not-too-old metal poor stellar clusters can be used to get an upper limit for the cluster age. As a result we find that the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo I appears even younger than previously suggested, with an age lower or of the order of 2.0 Gyr. Firmer conclusions will be reached when detecting the cluster main sequence turn-off which is expected in the range of V = 24-24.3 mag, depending on the actual cluster age.File in questo prodotto:
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