SIMBAD references

We use Hubble Space Telescope imaging to show that the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4449 has an unusual abundance of luminous red star clusters. Joint constraints from integrated photometry, low-resolution spectroscopy, dynamical mass-to-light ratios, and resolved color-magnitude diagrams provide evidence that some of these clusters are old globular clusters (GCs). Spectroscopic data for two massive clusters suggest intermediate metallicities ([Fe/H] ~-1) and subsolar Mg enhancement ([Mg/Fe] ~-0.1 to -0.2). One of these clusters may be the nucleus of a tidally disrupting dwarf galaxy; the other is very massive (∼3x10⁶ M_☉). We have also identified a population of remote halo GCs. NGC 4449 is consistent with an emerging picture of the ubiquity of stellar halos among dwarf galaxies, and study of its GCs may help distinguish between accretion and in situ scenarios for such halos.