K_s vs. (J − K_s) CMD with isochrone line for the helium burning sequence for two metallicities and the appropriate age ranges: Younger, more metal rich (log   (t/yr) = 9.0–9.4, Z = 0.0125) are in blue and the older, more metal poor (log   (t/yr) = 9.4–9.7, Z = 0.0033) are in red. The black error bar in the top left represents error in LMC distance. Magenta and green contours are described in Fig. 4. The RC peaks are consistent with the red isochrones when accounting for foreground Galactic extinction (estimated to be J − K_s = 0.04 mag from Schlegel et al. 1998).