Near Infrared Survey of Populous Clusters in the LMC: Preliminary Results

Abstract

We report preliminary results from our near-infrared JHK survey of star clusters in the LMC. The primary goals of the survey are to study the three-dimensional structure and distance of the LMC. In 2003 and 2004 we used the Infrared Side Port Imager (ISPI) on the CTIO 4m to obtain near infrared photometry for a sample of populous LMC clusters. We utilize the K-band luminosity of core helium burning red clump (RC) stars to obtain individual cluster distances and present a preliminary assessment of the structure and geometry of the LMC based on a subset of our data.

7 pages (including 2 figures), Conference proceedings from "Resolved Stellar Populations", held in Cancun, 18-22 April 2005. ASP Conference Series, D. Valls-Gabaud and M. Chavez (eds)