Star formation histories in the Local Group

Deep color magnitude diagrams extending to the main sequence provide the most direct measure of the detailed star formation history in a stellar population. With large investments of observing time, HST can obtain such data for populations out to 1 Mpc, but its field of view is extremely small in comparison to the size of Local Group galaxies. This limitation severely constrains our understanding of galaxy formation. For example, the largest galaxy in the Local Group, Andromeda, offers an ideal laboratory for studying the formation of large spiral galaxies, but the galaxy shows substructure on a variety of scales, presumably due to its violent merger history. Within its remaining lifetime, HST can only sample a few sight-lines through this complex galaxy. In contrast, a wide field imager could provide a map of Andromeda's halo, outer disk, and tidal streams, revealing the spatially-dependent star formation history in each structure. The same data would enable many secondary studies, such as the age variation in Andromeda's globular cluster system, gigantic samples of variable stars, and microlensing tracers of the galaxy's dark matter distribution. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.