Be stars in and around young clusters in the Magellanic Clouds

Stefan C Keller, Peter R Wood, Michael S Bessell

Published 1998-09-07Version 1

We present the results of a search for Be stars in six fields centered on the young clusters NGC 330 and NGC 346 in the SMC, and NGC 1818, NGC 1948, NGC 2004 and NGC 2100 in the LMC. Be stars were identified by differencing R band and narrow-band H$\alpha$ CCD images. Our comparatively large images provide substantial Be star populations both within the clusters and in their surrounding fields. Magnitudes, positions and finding charts are given for the 224 Be stars found. The fraction of Be stars to normal B stars within each cluster is found to vary significantly although the average ratio is similar to the average Be to B star ratio found in the Galaxy. In some clusters, the Be star population is weighted to magnitudes near the main sequence turn-off. The Be stars are redder in $V$$-$$I$ than normal main-sequence stars of similar magnitude and the redness increases with increasing H$\alpha$ emission strength.