THE OB-ASSOCIATION LH-58 IN THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD

We present CCD photometry and spectroscopy for stars in Lucke-Hodge 58, an isolated OB association in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) northwest of 30 Doradus. The photometric catalog contains 839 stars with UBV magnitudes complete to V approximate to 19. We have obtained spectra and classified 35 stars; combined with previous published spectral types, we find 22 O-type stars. The earliest type is 03-4 V, and there are three WR stars in the association. The slope of the initial mass function, Gamma=-1.7+/-0.3, is in good agreement with other LMC associations. The presence of several evolved supergiants with masses about 15-25.M(circle dot) suggests that some star formation took place as early as 10 million years ago, but the majority of stars formed coevally within the past few million years.