All Figures

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=13cm,clip]{1028fig1.eps} \end{figure}$ Figure 1: Three-color image of NGC 5253 in the V band (blue), I band (green) and Ks band (red). North is up and east is right. The image is $80\hbox {$^{\prime \prime }$ }\times 80\hbox {$^{\prime \prime }$ }$ in size.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=8cm,clip]{1028fig2.ps} % \end{figure}$ Figure 2: Color-color plot of the observed clusters in NGC 5253. Upper panel: the circles are the clusters detected in all all bands (V, I, and Ks), the filled ones with a mean of the uncertainties in the two colors of less than 0.2 mag and the open ones with errors between 0.2 and 0.44 mag. The solid line is the SB99 model of an instantaneous burst of star formation, with Z=0.004, assuming a Salpeter IMF with $\alpha =2.35$ and $M_{\rm up}=100~M_{\odot}$ , while the dot-dashed line is the same model but with $Z=Z_{\odot }$ , where the red supergiants loop is evident (see text). The arrow in the upper left corner is the screen extinction vector for $A_{\rm V}=2$ mag. Lower panel: the arrows are upper and lower limits on the colors for the objects detected in V and I but not in Ks (the ones pointing to the left) or in I and Ks but not in V (pointing to the upper right). The SB99 models and the screen extinction vector are plotted as in the upper panel.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\resizebox{8.8cm}{!}{\includegraphics{1028fig3.eps}} \end{figure}$ Figure 3: Spatial distribution of older (gray circles, age > 20 Myr) and younger (white rectangles, age < 20 Myr) matched clusters, compared with the VLT Ks band image.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\resizebox{8.8cm}{!}{\includegraphics{1028fig4.ps}} \end{figure}$ Figure 4: The luminosity function of the sources observed in V and Ks band. The solid line is the observed function, and the dotted one is after correction for extinction. The dashed line is the completeness-corrected function, where the correction is applied to the 50% completeness limit. The Gaussian curves are the best fit to the observed distributions.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\resizebox{8.8cm}{!}{\includegraphics{1028fig5.ps}}\end{figure}$ Figure 5: Mass function of the young clusters detected in H $\alpha$ ( upper panel) and of the older ones ( lower panel). The 50% completeness limits are marked by vertical lines. The dotted line in the upper panel uses the solar model as reference, while the dashed lines are the mass functions after the completeness correction has been applied.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=13cm,clip]{1028fig1.eps} \end{figure}$	Figure 1: Three-color image of NGC 5253 in the V band (blue), I band (green) and Ks band (red). North is up and east is right. The image is $80\hbox {$^{\prime \prime }$ }\times 80\hbox {$^{\prime \prime }$ }$ in size.
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$\begin{figure} \par\resizebox{8.8cm}{!}{\includegraphics{1028fig3.eps}} \end{figure}$	Figure 3: Spatial distribution of older (gray circles, age > 20 Myr) and younger (white rectangles, age < 20 Myr) matched clusters, compared with the VLT Ks band image.
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$\begin{figure} \par\resizebox{8.8cm}{!}{\includegraphics{1028fig4.ps}} \end{figure}$	Figure 4: The luminosity function of the sources observed in V and Ks band. The solid line is the observed function, and the dotted one is after correction for extinction. The dashed line is the completeness-corrected function, where the correction is applied to the 50% completeness limit. The Gaussian curves are the best fit to the observed distributions.
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$\begin{figure} \par\resizebox{8.8cm}{!}{\includegraphics{1028fig5.ps}}\end{figure}$	Figure 5: Mass function of the young clusters detected in H $\alpha$ ( upper panel) and of the older ones ( lower panel). The 50% completeness limits are marked by vertical lines. The dotted line in the upper panel uses the solar model as reference, while the dashed lines are the mass functions after the completeness correction has been applied.
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