SIMBAD references

A great burst of cluster formation increased the rate at which open clusters were formed in the Large Magellanic Cloud 3-5 Gyr ago by at least an order of magnitude. On the other hand, the rate of star formation ∼4 Gyr appears to have increased by a factor of only 2-4. This shows that the rate of cluster formation is not a good tracer of the rate at which stars are formed. Normalized to the same rate of star formation, the Large Magellanic Cloud is presently forming ≳600 times more star clusters than the Local Group dwarf irregular IC 1613. The high rate of cluster formation in merging gas-rich galaxies suggests that strong shocks might favor the formation of clusters.