Observations of M32: The Color-Magnitude Diagram'
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Introduction.
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As the nearest example of an elliptical galaxy, M32 serves as an important beachhead in our campaign to understand the age and metallicity mixture of stellar populations in elliptical galaxies. While M32 may be somewhat unusual given its proximity to M31, spectroscopically it is identical to other faint ellipticals (Faber 1972; Burstein 1984; Bica, Alloin, & Schmidt 1990; González 1993; Trager 1996). A key objective is to obtain deep color-magnitude (CM) diagrams to test conclusions thus far based solely on integrated colors and spectral index work. The proximity of M32, combined with the superb resolution afforded by the [*Hubble Space Telescope*]{} Wide Field/Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) permits a remarkable improvement in our ability to study its stellar content and brings us within range of this goal.

In studying a stellar population, the basic variables we wish to determine are the mean stellar age and metallicity, and the distribution functions around these means. For old stellar populations like that in M32, it is difficult to measure both age and Z simultaneously from integrated light, as broad-band spectral shape and metal lines tend to vary together in lock step with both these variables 