Presenter: Sara Holeman − Astronomy & Planetary Science
Faculty Mentor(s): Scott Fisher
Session: (In-Person) Poster Presentation
Here we present results from optical observations of the open cluster M52 (NGC 7654) obtained at Pine Mountain Observatory (PMO) in July 2021. We obtained high signal-to-noise ratio images of M52 in the SLOAN g’, r’, and i’ filters during a single observing run under substandard observing conditions due to surrounding wildfires. M52 was chosen for this project due to the stars being widely separated allowing for photometry to be performed near the cluster center. The cluster was observed in each filter for 25 minutes of on-source integration. The image data was later reduced and analyzed using custom Python scripts that then produced the color-magnitude diagrams (CMD) presented here.
Being that the main motivation of this project was to allow advanced undergraduate students to write and perfect data analysis code and produce adequate results that could be compared against published data, we are pleased to present a high-quality CMD comparison to published data as well as offset comparisons roughly by five magnitudes due to the negative effects of the smoke. Our results give the chance for students to recognize the importance of observing conditions and the reality of optical observations for astronomical research. Additionally, we will use the obtained data to absolutely calibrate the PMO telescope system for the first time and use the customized Python code to return to M52 to obtain better quality data with excellent observing conditions to correct for the offset CMDs.