WFPC2 OBSERVATIONS OF THE DOUBLE CLUSTER NGC-1850 IN THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD

HST-WFPC2 optical and ultraviolet imaging observations of the young do uble cluster NGC 1850 in the LMC are presented. The main cluster, NGC 1850A, is a globular-like cluster and has an age of 50 +/- 10 Myr, whi le the subcluster, NGC 1850B, which is more loosely distributed, is ve ry young at 4.3 +/- 0.9 Myr. Its young age is confirmed by the detecti on of a pre-main-sequence population of stars associated to it. The tw o clusters have considerably different IMF slopes, with the main clust er having a flat slope [f(m) is-proportional-to m-1.4 +/- 0.2] and the young cluster a much steeper one [f(m) is-proportional-to m-2.6 +/- 0 .1]. The LCM field star population displays a broad range of ages, fro m approximately 0.5 Gyr up to more than 4 Gyr.