Spectroscopy of B Stars in the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds

Abstract

High-resolution spectroscopic observations of B-type stars in the Small (SMC) and Large (LMC) Magellanic Clouds have been obtained using the UCL echelle spectrograph at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Preliminary results of an LTE model-atmosphere analysis are presented for three stars in the LMC, together with the results of a similar analysis of three main-sequence B-type stars and one B-type giant in the SMC. Relative to Galactic B-type stars, mean metal deficiencies of 0.8 dex and 0.3 dex have been deduced for the SMC and LMC stars respectively. There is also marginal evidence for the existence of chemical inhomogeneities within the SMC.