Wide Field Optical Photometry of the Carina Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

Monelli, M.; Walker, A. W.; Bono, G.; Buonanno, R.; Caputo, F.; Castellani, M.; Castellani, V.; Corsi, C. E.; Dall'Ora, M.; Marconi, M.; Pulone, L.; Ripepi, V.; Nonino, M.; Brocato, E.; Smith, H.
Bibliographical reference

Memorie della Società Astronomica Italiana, v.75, p.114 (2004)

Advertised on:
0
2004
Number of authors
15
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
5
Refereed citations
4
Description
We present optical photometry of the Carina Dwarf Spheroidal (dSph) Galaxy. Data have been collected with CCD mosaic cameras available at the 2.2m ESO/MPI and at the 4m CTIO Blanco telescopes. Our current (V,B-V) Color-Magnitude diagram (CMD) confirms the occurrence of an old (˜ 11 Gyr) and an intermediate-age (˜ 5 Gyr ) population. Furthermore, we found evidence of a well-defined blue plume of young Main Sequence (MS) stars with an age at most of the order of ≃ 1 Gyr. The radial distributions of the stellar populations of different age appear to be different: the intermediate-age population is flatter and more centrally concentrated when compared with the old one. Moreover, star counts of the old stellar component are asimmetric along both the major and the minor axis. This feature might be the signature of a tidal interaction with the Galaxy.