Magellanic Clouds stellar clusters. II. New CM diagrams for 6 LMC and 10 SMC clusters^*

¹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Piazza Torricelli 2, 56100 Pisa, Italy
² Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Via Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy
³ Osservatorio Astronomico di Collurania, Via M. Maggini, 64100 Teramo, Italy

Corresponding author: E. Brocato, brocato@te.astro.it

Received: 10 August 2001
Accepted: 29 January 2002

Abstract

We present new CCD photometry for 6 LMC and 10 SMC stellar clusters taken at the ESO  Danish Telescope in La Silla, to extend a previous investigation on Magellanic Clouds clusters based on HST snapshots. Thanks to the much larger area covered by the Danish detector, we investigate the spatial distribution of cluster stars, giving V, CM diagrams for both clusters and surrounding fields. Evidence of a complex history of star formation in the Clouds is outlined, showing that old field populations in both Clouds have metallicities much lower than normally adopted for them ( and for LMC and SMC respectively), with SMC field stars more metal poor than in the LMC. Observational data concerning the red clump of field stars in both Clouds are briefly discussed.