2008/06/27 by R. Carrera, Ricardo Carrera, Carme Gallart +7 · 6 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Dwarf galaxy #Galaxy #Interacting galaxy #Irregular galaxy #Large Magellanic Cloud #Metallicity #Physics #Small Magellanic Cloud #Spectroscopy #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0004-6256/136/3/1039
30 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomical Journal
arxiv created 2008/06/27 · openalex publication_date 2008/08/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present stellar metallicities derived from Ca ii triplet spectroscopy in over 350 red giant branch stars in 13 fields distributed in different positions in the Small Magellanic Cloud, ranging from ∼1° to ∼4° from its center. In the innermost fields, the average metallicity is [Fe/H] ∼−1. This value decreases when we move away toward outermost regions. This is the first detection of a spectroscopic metallicity gradient in this galaxy. We show that the metallicity gradient is related to an age gradient, in the sense that more metal-rich stars, which are also younger, are concentrated in the central regions of the galaxy.