Abstract details

I will present a GTK graphical user interface to STECKMAP (Stellar Content and Kinematics via Maximum A Posteriori, MNRAS, 2006, 365, 74), a method devised for constraining stellar populations of galaxies or star clusters and their kinematics from integrated light spectra. In addition to making the user's life simpler and having a faster overview of the critical parameters and aspects of the interpretation, the software includes a simulation facility, which allows one to investigate the significance of the constraints obtained on the stellar content. Thanks to the spectral models package already plugged in STECKMAP (Bruzual & Charlot 2003, PEGASE-HR, and more), the user can easily switch between different SSP models and thus investigate the robustness of the constraints with respect to modelling uncertainties. This software package will increase the potential of SSP models as tools for galaxy evolution investigations and raise awareness of the current modelling problems and challenges. I will illustrate this point by showing results of discrepant star formation histories obtained using a range of SSP models.