LEGUS & Ha-LEGUS obs. of NGC4449 star clusters

We improve the spectral energy fitting method used to estimate cluster ages, and find that the results, particularly for older clusters, are in better agreement with those from spectroscopy. The inclusion of H{alpha} measurements, the role of stochasticity for low-mass clusters, the assumptions about reddening, and the choices of SSP model and metallicity all have important impacts on the age dating of clusters.

A comparison with ages derived from stellar color-magnitude diagrams for partially resolved clusters shows reasonable agreement, but large scatter in some cases. The fraction of light found in clusters relative to the total light (i.e., T_L_) in the U, B, and V filters in 25 different ~kiloparsec-size regions throughout NGC 4449 correlates with both the specific region luminosity, R_L_, and the dominant age of the underlying stellar population in each region.