Spatial distribution of carbon and oxygen abundances in the Magellanic Clouds

Abstract: We present chemical abundances of carbon and oxygen in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds from optical spectra of H II regions. We analyse the behaviour of the O/H, C/H and C/O abundances ratios and their spatial distribution inside the galaxies. The results show that the radial gradients can be considered flat for all these elements in both galaxies. In addition, we compare our results with those of other more massive spiral galaxies. We find a correlation between the absolute magnitude, M_v, of the galaxies and the slopes of C/H and C/O gradients. The more massive galaxies show steeper C/H and C/O gradients than the less massive ones.