Physics Commons^™

Photometry Of Star Clusters From Mendel Observatory, James Biegel

Across the Bridge: The Merrimack Undergraduate Research Journal

We have observed four open star clusters and three globular star clusters using Mendel Observatory’s 18” Richey-Chrétien telescope. Our photometry data was obtained using nonstandard R, G, and B filters. We plotted the results in the form of a Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram in an attempt to determine the so called “turn-off point” for the observed clusters, which is a strong indicator of age. Due to our limited sample size of stars in each cluster, we were not able to determine the turn-off points and obtain relative ages for the clusters. However, we find that the shapes of our H-R diagrams …