Stellar populations from adaptive optics observations: four test cases

Abstract

We describe a first attempt to apply adaptive optics to the study of resolved stellar populations in galaxies. Advantages over traditional approaches are (i) improved spatial resolution and point-source sensitivity through adaptive optics, and (ii) use of the near-infrared region, where the peak of the spectral energy distribution for old populations is found. Disadvantages are the small area covered and the need for excellent seeing. We made observations with the ADONIS system at the European Southern Observatory of the peculiar elliptical galaxy NGC 5128; the irregular galaxy IC 5152 (a possible outer member of the Local Group); the Sc galaxy NGC 300 (a member of the Sculptor group); and the Sgr window in the bulge of the Milky Way. These different fields give excellent test cases for the potential of adaptive optics. In the first two cases, we failed to obtain photometry of individual stars, which would have required excellent seeing. For NGC 300 we measured magnitudes for nine individual supergiants (H = 18.3 to 20.2), but did not go deep enough to detect the tip of the RGB of an old population. For the Sgr field we produced a infrared luminosity function and colour-magnitude diagram for 70 stars down to about K = 19.5. These are the deepest yet measured for the Galactic bulge, reaching beyond the turn-off.