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Chemical Abundances in the Carina dSph Galaxy

Citation:

Smecker-Hane TA, Mandushev GI, Hesser JE, Stetson PB, Da Costa GS, Hatzidimitriou D. Chemical Abundances in the Carina dSph Galaxy. In: Vol. 192. ; 1999. pp. 159.

Date Presented:

1999/01/1

Abstract:

We report on the chemical abundances of stars in the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) derived from low-resolution spectra. We have determined values of [Fe/H] for 52 stars from the reduced equivalent width of the Ca II infrared triplet lines. The Carina dSph has a mean metallicity of [Fe/H] = -1.99 +/- 0.08 and an intrinsic metallicity dispersion 0.25 dex (1 sigma). By directly determining the chemical abundances of Carina stars through spectroscopy, we can overcome the age-metallicity degeneracy inherent in color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and determine its star-formation history with unprecedented accuracy.

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