M31 is being surveyed at far- and near-ultraviolet with the UVIT telescope on AstroSat. The central bulge of M31 was observed in the N279N (275–280 nm), N219M (200–240 nm), F172M (160–185 nm), F169M (145–175 nm), and F148W (120–180 nm) filters. These images are made publicly available here. The UVIT data are supplemented with Sloan Digital Sky Survey data in optical, Spitzer data in near-infrared and Herschel data in mid- and far-infrared. The resulting far-ultraviolet to IR spectral-energy distributions for the bulge and for 10 subregions, are modeled using combinations of simple stellar populations and with CIGALE models. We find a dominant old (10–12 Gyr) metal-rich ([Z/H] ∼ 0.3) population and a younger (600 Myr) solar abundance ([Z/H] ∼ 0) population throughout the bulge. For the innermost 120″ we find an additional very young (25 Myr) metal-poor ([Z/H] ∼ −0.7) population. The results are consistent with the most recent stellar population studies of the bulge, which find the two populations for the whole bulge and a third young population in the innermost bulge.
The Andromeda galaxy (M31) is an object of ongoing study with the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) on AstroSat. UVIT far-UV (FUV) and near-UV (NUV) photometry is carried out here for a set of 239 clusters in the NE disk and bulge of M31 that overlap with the HST/PHAT survey. Padova stellar models were applied to derive ages, masses, metallicities, and extinctions for 170 clusters. The ages show a narrow peak at ∼4 Myr and a broad peak around 100 Myr. log(Z/Z
⊙) values are mostly between −0.3 and +0.3. The 7 clusters in the bulge have a low metallicity and high mass. Most clusters are in the spiral arms and have metallicities in the range noted above. The youngest clusters mostly have high metallicity and are concentrated along the brightest parts of the spiral arms. The UVIT FUV and NUV data are sensitive to young stars and detect a new metal-rich peak in star formation in the disk at age ∼4 Myr.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.