The ARAUCARIA project: Grid-based quantitative spectroscopic study of massive blue stars in NGC 55

Abstract

Context. The quantitative study of the physical properties and chemical abundances of large samples of massive blue stars at different metallicities is a powerful tool to understand the nature and evolution of these objects. Their analysis beyond the Milky Way is challenging, nonetheless it is doable and the best way to investigate their behavior in different environments. Fulfilling this task in an objective way requires the implementation of automatic analysis techniques that can perform the analyses systematically, minimizing at the same time any possible bias. Aims. As part of the ARAUCARIA project we carry out the first quantitative spectroscopic analysis of a sample of 12 B-type supergiants in the galaxy NGC 55 at 1.94 Mpc away. By applying the methodology developed in this work, we derive their stellar parameters, chemical abundances and provide a characterization of the present-day metallicity of their host galaxy.