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A.W. Stephens, J.A. Frogel (OSU)
We have used Gemini North with Hokupa'a & QUIRC to obtain JHK' images of the central regions of M33, with the objective of delineating its stellar populations. Previous studies have shown that there appear to be 3 stellar populations present: a star-forming disk, an intermediate-age population, and a very old population. However, attempts to delineate these populations with ground based near-IR observations have led to contradictory results because of blending of multiple stellar images in crowded fields observed with inadequate resolution. With these new, high spatial resolution observations, we are able to accurately determine the bolometric luminosity function and colors for the brightest several magnitudes of M33's stars. We also estimate ages for the stars in the M33's central region and address the relative importance of young, intermediate age, and old stellar components to the integrated light of M33.