The VISCACHA survey - I. Overview and First Results

F.F.S. MAIA, B. DIAS, J.F.C. SANTOS JR, L. KERBER, E. BICA, A.E. PIATTI ET AL.

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2019 vol. 484 p. 5702 - 5722

0035-8711

The VISCACHA (VIsible Soar photometry of star Clusters in tApii and Coxi HuguA)Survey is an ongoing project based on deep photometric observations of MagellanicCloud star clusters, collected using the SOuthern Astrophysical Research (SOAR)telescope together with the SOAR Adaptive Module Imager. Since 2015 more than200 hours of telescope time were used to observe about 130 stellar clusters, mostof them with low mass (M < 104 M⊙) and/or located in the outermost regions ofthe Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud. With this high qualitydata set, we homogeneously determine physical properties from statistical analysisof colour-magnitude diagrams, radial density profiles, luminosity functions and massfunctions. Ages, metallicities, reddening, distances, present-day masses, mass functionslopes and structural parameters for these clusters are derived and used as a proxyto investigate the interplay between the environment in the Magellanic Clouds andthe evolution of such systems. In this first paper we present the VISCACHA Surveyand its initial results, concerning the SMC clusters AM3, K37, HW20 and NGC796and the LMC ones KMHK228, OHSC3, SL576, SL61 and SL897, chosen to composea representative subset our cluster sample. The project?s long term goals and legacyto the community are also addressed.