Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Death Of A Cluster: The Destruction Of M67 As Seen By The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, James R. A. Davenport, Eric L. Sandquist

Physics & Astronomy

We probe the spatial and dynamical structure of the old open cluster M67 using photometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's sixth data release. Making use of an optimal contrast, or matched filter, algorithm, we map the distribution of high probability members of M67. We find an extended and elongated halo of likely members to a radius of nearly 60'. Our measured core radius of R _core = 824 ± 060 is somewhat larger than that of previous estimates. We attribute the larger core radius measurement to the SDSS probing lower mass main sequence stars than has been done …