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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 July 2016
The present study is concerned with the examination of properties of stars in the core of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Previous studies have shown that Fornax has a very diverse stellar population. Four of the globular clusters associated with Fornax were found to have metallicities significantly lower than the mean metallicity of the field population of the galaxy (Buonanno et al. 1985); these clusters point out an older, metal-poor population. Also, there are a number of luminous carbon stars, which are indicative of a much younger population (see Mould and Aaronson 1986). Studies of the field population of Fornax (Demers, Kunkel, and Hardy, 1979; Buonanno et al., 1985) have shown a dispersion in metallicity. We have measured a large sample of giant branch stars, enabling a good determination of mean properties of the Fornax stellar population, as well as allowing a comparison of stars as a function of distance from the center of Fornax.