New Old Clusters in the SMC

PARISI, M.C.; GEISLER, D.; GROCHOLSKI, A. J.; CLARIÁ, J. J.; CARRARO, G.; COSTA, E.; PIATTI, A. E.; SARAJEDINI, A.; LEITON, R.

Granada

Workshop; Stellar Clusters & Associations: A RIA Workshop on Gaia; 2011

Using Ca triplet spectroscopy and $PSF$ photometry performed on data takenwith the ``Very Large Telescope'' (Chile),we derived metalliciities and ages of fifteen SMC star clusters. We foundthree of the sample to have ages and metallicities comparable to thatof NGC121, the only currently known ``old'' (Galactic globular cluster -aged)cluster in the SMC. These clusters add greatly to our knowledge of thechemical evolution of this galaxy during the earliest epochs. We discussthe age-metallicity relation and metallicity gradient based on our data.