Time resolved star formation in the SMC: The youngest star clusters

The two young clusters NGC 346 and NGC 602 in the Small Magellanic Cloud provide us with the opportunity to study and the efficiency of feedback mechanism at low metallicity, as well as the impact of local and global conditions in cluster formation and evolution. I describe the latest results from a multi-wavelength, large-scale study of these two clusters. HST/ACS images reveal that the clusters have very different structures: NGC 346 is composed by a number of sub-clusters which appear coeval with ages of 3 ± 1 Myr, strongly suggesting formation by the hierarchical fragmentation of a turbulent molecular cloud (Nota et al. 2006; Sabbi et al. 2007a). NGC 602, on the contrary, appears as a single small cluster of OB stars surrounded by pre-main sequence stars. For both clusters high-resolution spectroscopy of the ionized gas shows little evidence for gas motions. This suggests that at the low SMC metallicity, the winds from the hottest stars are not powerful enough to sweep away the residual gas. Instead we find that stellar radiation is the dominant process shaping the interstellar environment of NGC 346 and NGC 602. © 2009 International Astronomical Union.