ON THE AGE OF THE NEARBY BLUE COMPACT DWARF GALAXY SBS-0335-052

UBVRI surface photometry and long-slit spectrophotometric observations are used to investigate the evolutionary status and put constraints o n the age of the underlying stellar population of the eastern componen t of a nearby pair of dwarf galaxies, the blue compact dwarf galaxy SE S 0335-052E. We show that ionized gas emission extending out to distan ces greater than or similar to 1 kpc from the central complex of super -star clusters (SSC) can significantly influence the observed colour d istribution of the underlying component. After correction for the latt er effect, we find that the intrinsic colours of the underlying compon ent in SBS 0335-052B are consistent with those of a stellar population not older than 100 Myr, so that the BCD is truly a young galaxy.