Abstract
Normal galaxies emit most of their radiation longward of one micron, and many problems related to our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution can be fruitfully addressed with measurements at near-infrared wavelengths. Such problems include the make-up of the red stellar population, the star formation rate, the initial mass function, metallicity effects, and mass-to-light ratio. How these various quantities depend on morphological type, on total mass (or absolute magnitude), on radial position, and on environment is also of great interest. In this review recent infrared observations of extragalactic stars, star clusters, and galaxies having important bearing on these questions are discussed. Particular emphasis is placed on new evidence for the presence of a finite intermediate age population in early-type systems. This evidence comes from observations of intermediate age stars in many Magellanic Cloud globular clusters, observations of such stars in at least one nearby dwarf spheroidal (Fornax), the difficulties of fitting theoretical isochrone models to the red V-K colors of E and SO galaxies, and the differences in the infrared color-magnitude relations for the Virgo and Coma clusters.“It is not very bright to measure a blue magnitude for a red object.”– Vera Rubin
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
