CLUES TO NUCLEAR STAR CLUSTER FORMATION FROM EDGE-ON SPIRALS

We find nine nuclear cluster candidates in a sample of 14 edge-on, late-type galaxies observed with the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys. These clusters have magnitudes (MI rv 11) and sizes (reA rv 3 pc) similar to those found in previous studies of face-on, late-type spirals and dE galaxies. However, three of the nuclear clusters are significantly flattened and show evidence for multiple, coincident structural components. The elongations of these three clusters are aligned to within rv10o of the galaxies’ major axes. Structurally, the flattened clusters are well fit by a combination of a spheroid and a disk or ring, with the disk preferred in two of three cases. The nuclear cluster disks/rings have F606W - F814W (rvV - I ) colors 0.3Y0.6 mag bluer than the spheroid components, sug- gesting that the stars in these components have ages