Aperture Photometry:

Obtaining and analyzing

a H-R Diagram of M38


Arturo Ruiz Martin
January, 17
th
2011





1

Abstract
The objective of the paper is to perform a study of one or several open clusters with the help
of color-magnitude diagrams. The importance of clusters in this kind of study lies in the fact
that all the stars in the cluster have been formed by the contraction of one cloud made of dust
and gas. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider that they have the same age and also that they
are approximately at the same distance from our Sun. This allows us to directly compare their
brightness and determine some important parameters of the cluster, such as its age or
distance. This type of diagrams (known as Hertzprung-Russell Diagrams), which relate the
magnitude or intrinsic brightness of the stars and their color, have been used to model the
evolution not only of a particular cluster, but the stars in general, because of the fact that an
examination of the diagram shows that the stars tend to come together in some regions of it.
This study was performed on the open cluster M38 and our observations were made with the
telescope at the observatory of Centre de Natura Caixa Catalunya in Lleida and at the Montsec
Astronomical Observatory with the great collaboration of Enrique Herrero and Francesc
Vilardell.
With this diagram we determined the age of the M38 cluster in approximately 500 million
years.
1 Introduction
1.1 Fundamental basics of photometry
Since the beginning of the time, the man has not had enough with the study of what he has on
his planet, the Earth. He has always been curious about what is outside of it, all that environs
us: the space.
One of the first men who started to make observations was Hipparchus, considered by some
the greatest astronomer of antiquity. It is known that he classified the stars visible to the
naked eye into six magnitudes. The brightest stars were thought to be in the first magnitude
(m= +1), while the faintest stars were classified in the sixth magnitude (m= +6). Due to the fact
that the response to the light by the eye is logarithmic, this scale was also logarithmic.
In 1856, Norman Robert Porson realized that, in Hipparchus scale, the stars in the first
magnitude were approximately 100 times brighter than the stars classified in the sixth
magnitude. Then, he proposed to adopt a magnitude scale system in which each magnitude is
2.512 times less bright than the magnitude above it (fifth root of 100). This is also known as
Pogsons Ratio. Nowadays, Vega (Alfa Lyrae) is the star where the scale of magnitudes is fixed
to.
According to this, the magnitude of a star (a) with respect to Vega can be defined as: (1)

2

Where
F
a
is the light flux received from the star a

F
VEGA
is the light flux received from Vega

The brightness of a star is heavily dependent on its distance to the earth, so it would be better
to compare the intrinsic brightness of the stars to have a scale where the distance would not
influence the value of the magnitude. That is the reason why there is a so called the absolute
magnitude (M).
1
It can be calculated by the following equation: (2)


Where
m is the apparent magnitude of the star

d is the distance to the star in parsecs
2

See: (Strobel, 2007) (Stellar Magnitudes)

1.2 Color / Temperature of the stars
To determine the color of a determined star, we use a parameter called color index (B-V),
which is defined as the difference of two magnitudes of the same star, measured in different
color filters (Visual and Blue). So the relation between these two magnitudes will be: (3)
( )

)
Where
F
B
is the flux measured with the B filter

F
V
is the flux measured with the V filter

The hottest stars radiate in the short wavelength region, so if we measure the apparent bright
of a star using a B filter, this bright would be higher than if we use a V filter, which has its
transmission peak in the green part of the spectrum. That is why the apparent magnitude of
the blue filter would be less (brighter) than the magnitude of the visual filter.

1
As an example, the Sun is obviously the star with the highest apparent magnitude (-26.74) because it is
the closest star to the Earth, however, in the absolute magnitude scale, compared with other stars of
the universe, the Sun is not one of the brightest stars (M = 4.83).
2
The parsec is the distance that an object has to be to accomplish that its parallax is 1 arc second. A
parsec is equal to 3.26 light-years.
3

Stars are classified in different spectral types depending on the wavelength of their emission
peak, i.e. their color. The temperature of a star is directly related with this radiation, as it can
be considered as a black body. [For further information consult Black Body Radiation (La
radiacin del cuerpo negro) and Plancks Law (Wikipedia - Planks Law, 2011)]

Since 1943 there is a scale of spectral types, named each one with a letter:
O: Stars very hot and luminous, very blue.
B: Extremely luminous and blue stars, which tend to cluster together.
A: The most common naked eye stars, white-bluish white color.
F: White stars, commonly called yellow-white dwarfs.
G: Sun type.
K: These stars are slightly cooler than our Sun. Most of them have an orange color.
M: The most common class (76% of stars in the solar neighborhood). They have a red color,
and most of them are dwarfs.
With this information we can deduce that A-type stars (white) will have a color-index value
close to 0; the hottest stars (O and B-type) will have negative color index and, the higher the
index is, the colder is the star and more advanced is its spectral type (F, G, K . . .).
See: (Kaler, 1989) (Morgan & Keenan, 1973)

1.3 The HR Diagram
Ejnar Hertzprung and Henry Noris Rusell were two astronomers who, in 1910, developed the
diagram which today allows us to explain stellar types and evolution. Separately, they also
performed and published several works. As an example, Rusell co-wrote an influential
textbook in 1927: Astronomy: A Revision of Youngs Manual of Astronomy which became the
standard astronomy book for two decades.
In a Hertzsprung-Rusell Diagram, each star measured is represented by a dot. The position of
each dot on the diagram tells, about each star, its luminosity and its temperature or color
index.
The vertical axis of the diagram represents the magnitude or luminosity of the stars. The
horizontal axis represents the stars surface temperature (not the stars core temperature we
cannot see into the core of a star, only its surface) usually this is labeled using the Kelvin
temperature scale. But in most graphs and diagrams, zero (or the smaller numbers) exists to
the left on the diagram. This is not the case here. On our diagram, the higher (hotter)
temperatures will be on the left, and the lower (cooler) temperatures will be on the right.
4

Some HR diagrams include the color index of stars as it can be measured through photometric
filters or its spectral type, which is usually obtained from low-resolution spectroscopy.

Figure 1 Example of an H-R Diagram from http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/H/HRdiag.html

The HR Diagram also gives us a good overview of properties of the star sample that we are
representing. A star in the upper left corner of the diagram would be hot and bright. A star in
the upper right corner of the diagram would be cool and bright. The Sun would be
approximately in the middle of the diagram, and it is the star which we use for comparison. A
star in the lower left corner of the diagram would be hot and dim. A star in the lower right
corner of the diagram would be cold and dim.
A further examination of a HR Diagram shows that the stars tend to be in some regions of it.
The most part of the stars are present in a region called Main Sequence (diagonal going from
the lower right of the diagram, cool and dim stars, to the upper left, hottest and brightest stars
in the diagram). The lowest-left is the place where White Dwarfs are found, and the sub giants,
giants and super giants are located in the upper right sections (red, cold and bright stars).
This diagram is an important tool because it can help us to determine the evolution of the stars
and to present it graphically.
See: (Sekiguchi & Fukugita, 2000) (Smith, 1995)

1.4 Role of clusters in the making of a HR Diagram
Clusters are groups of hundreds to thousands of stars bound to each other by mutual
gravitational attraction that were formed by the collapse of the same cloud, so all the stars can
be considered approximately the same age and chemical composition. The only difference
between the stars of a cluster is a matter of mass. The fact that one star in a cluster is brighter
than other, is due to the initial mass of each one, being the most massive stars brighter.
5

If we take the equation (2), which relates the apparent and absolute magnitude depending on
the distance, and apply it to a cluster, knowing that the distance is fairly the same for each
stars, we can determine that the difference between apparent and absolute magnitude is the
same for all the stars (M m = K). This fact allows us to compare the magnitudes of these stars
easily and understand that the shape of the HR Diagram will be the same either we use the
apparent magnitude or the absolute magnitude.

2 Observations and data reduction
2.1 Equipment
The observations for the present paper were carried out in October of 2010 in the observatory
located on the Centre de Natura de Catalunya Caixa in Planes de Son, Lleida (for NGC 7789)
and in November of 2010 in the fully robotic Montsec Astronomical Observatory (for M38).
The equipment at the Planes de Son Astronomical Observatory consists on a 40 cm Schmidt -
Cassegrain
3
telescope (Meade LX200 GPS 16), a 1024 x 1024 pixel CCD camera (SBIG STL
1001-e) which gives a resolution of 1.2 arcseconds/pixel [for further information see (Maier &
Heil, 2008)] and a set of Bessel filters (BVR). A second run of observations was carried out at
the Montsec Astronomical Observatory (OAdM), and they were executed in robotic mode. The
observatory is equipped with the large and most advanced telescope in Catalonia: an 80 cm
telescope (Optical Mechanics, Inc. RC08) with a hyperbolic mirror giving a focal relation of F/3.
The mechanic part of the telescope consists in an equatorial mount
4
controlled by high
precision motors which allow a maximum speed of 10 /sec. The system is capable to work in
an automatic way, remotely or totally robotic. To do the measurements a 2024*2024 pixel
CCD sensor Finger Lakes ProLine with a set of Johnson-Cousins filters (B and V) was used. [See
(Montsec Astronomical Observatory)]

2.2 Observations
For the first run of observations, which were carried out at Planes de Son, the first step was to
turn on the system and to cool down the CCD sensor to -20C in order to minimize the noise
produced by the electronic components of the CCD (thermic noise).
Due to the fact that the observatory was still in commissioning phase, before the observable
clusters had not acquired the adequate high in the sky to be observed, the telescope was
pointed to several reference stars in order to check and adjust the pointing of the telescope
system.


3
The Schmidt - Cassegrain reflector system is a combination of a primary concave mirror and a
secondary convex mirror used in optical telescopes. This system allows developing telescopes with a
great focal distance in less space.
4
An equatorial mount is a mount that follows the rotation of the celestial sphere. The advantage of this
mount lies in its ability to allow the telescope to stay fixed on any object in the sky that has a diurnal
motion by driving the axis at a constant speed.
6

The correction images taken were:
Bias frame: Its an image with zero exposure time, where it can be observed the read-
out noise (electrons created by the CCD sensor read-out and the internal electronics,
not by the incidence of photons),
Dark frame: It contains the effects produced by the thermal noise. It has to be made
with the same exposure time than the image of the astronomical object that will be
taken, because the thermal noise is proportional to the exposure time. As the CCD
response is linear (also regarding noise generation) another option is to rescale the
averaged dark frame to the exposure time of each of your object images, previously
correcting from bias frame.
Flat field: This correction consists in taking an image of an object with a flat
illumination (in our case was a white screen illuminated with a lamp, situated in the
dome) to see (and subtract to the final image later on) defects on the sensibility of the
pixels of the CCD, dust on the detector, etcetera.

A sample of observable open clusters for different nights was selected using the software The
Sky 6 (Bisque Software) and the internet tool Staralt [(URL 1)
http://catserver.ing.iac.es/staralt/ )]. We pointed to that clusters and several images with
different exposure time were taken. Due to bad meteorological conditions on the night at
Planes the Son, we could only take images of the open cluster NGC 7789. These data were
subsequently reduced and measured, but not finally analyzed due to uncorrectable effects of
reddening probably caused by the cirrus and high level of humidity during the data acquisition.
The observations in the Montsec Astronomical Observatory were done the same way as in
Planes de Son, with the same filters and calibration images, but in an automatic way. The
whole observation was previously programmed and scheduled to observe the open cluster
M38. This automation includes all the necessary operations to do the observations correctly
such as turning on, acquisition of calibration and object images and stop and shut down (also
in case of meteorological alerts).

2.3 Data reduction and photometry
All the images obtained were processed with the software Maxim DL 5. First, all the calibration
images (darks, bias and flat frames) were subtracted to the images in order to correct the
noise and defects of the objects images. There were 5 images for each filter so all the images
of each filter had to be combined in one final image (figure 2), from which the photometry was
measured to make the color-magnitude diagram. The parameters of the images were the
following:

Object Images / Filter Filters used Exp. Time Aper. Radius Annulus Thickness
NGC 7789 5 R, V, B 20/50 6 5
M38 5 R, V, B 20 6 5
Table 1 Images parameters from the two objects analyzed
7

With the final images obtained, we selected a sample of a hundred stars distributed in the
entire cluster to do the final diagram. With Maxim DL 5 and its tool Information, we obtained
the magnitude of that stars in each one of the filters required to do the diagram (in our case
the V and B filters). The value of this magnitude is calculated by subtracting to the flux that is
measured in the central ring aperture the flux measured in the external ring, which is also
known as background. It is very important that the size of these two rings remains constant for
all the measurement in a single image. If not, the final look of the diagram could be erroneous
and highly distanced to its actual appearance. Also it has to be considered the fact that, if we
want to obtain a complete HR diagram, the range of magnitudes of the analyzed stars has to
be as wide as the image permits, trying to measure from the brightest stars (always below
saturation) to the faintest which are above a certain single-to-noise ratio.

Figure 2 Adaptation of the final stacked image of M38 in the B filter


The value of the magnitude obtained is highly dependent on some parameters of the image
(such as exposition time, brightness, etc.) so it had to be converted to a value not dependent
of the telescope and CCD used. This conversion was done comparing our magnitudes with
another ones from astronomical catalogues [we used Simbad database (URL 2)
http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/] for a section of 6 o 7 stars in the field in order to obtain a
constant that would be later added to our instrumental magnitudes.
8

3 Data analysis
3.1 Making the HR Diagram
All the calculations performed were realized in a sheet using Excel 2010 (Microsoft). First, we
converted all the instrumental magnitudes
5
into apparent magnitudes. From Simbad database,
we took a small sample of stars that we had already measured in our image and we compared
the magnitude from Simbad with ours. Then, we did an average of all that differences and
obtained a constant that we added to our instrumental magnitudes to finally obtain the
apparent magnitude that could be plotted in the diagram.
To obtain the color magnitude index of the stars we also had to consider the reddening. This
is a consequence of the absorption and scattering of radiation emitted by the astronomical
objects by matter (dust and gas) between the object and the observer. This phenomenon was
corrected by subtracting a constant to the B-V index that we found in the WEBDA database:
(URL 3) http://www.univie.ac.at/webda/cgi-bin/ocl_page.cgi?cluster=m38

3.1.1 Isochrone fit
To obtain some conclusion from our diagram, we used isochrones.
The isochrones or evolutionary tracks are the representation in color-magnitude diagrams of
the output from models of star evolution. They are plots on the H-R diagram at constant time
across all masses.
For this work, a sample of isochrones was generated from (Siess L., 2000) models. These can
be calculated and downloaded with a web tool
6
that creates a group of different stars with
their color index (m
B-V
)

and m
V
that later can be plotted in the diagram and compared to the
real shape of the graph. It depends mainly on three factors: the age, distance and metallicity of
the star cluster. The older a star cluster is, the more advanced the star development; i.e.
heavy, blue stars have already transformed into giants (or supergiants). This has an effect on
the profile of the turnoff-point. We took this into account by choosing from model-isochrones
for different ages (100-500 million years) for best fit. The color index B- V is also influenced by
composition of the stars. In our case, we considered solar metallicity for the generated
isochrones.
We generated some isochrones that we later plotted in our diagram, allowing us to compare
their shapes and determine the age of that cluster. The data of the isochrones is given in
absolute magnitude (which is not dependent on the distance to the cluster), so it had to be
converted to apparent magnitude adding the distance-modulus obtained from URL 1, which
has the value of 10.91 magnitudes.

5
The instrumental magnitude is simply the result of 2.5 times the logarithm of the number of counts
that the CCD sensor generates from the amount of incised photons.
6
(URL 4) http://astropc0.ulb.ac.be/~siess/server/iso.html]
9

4 Results and discussion


Figure 3 M 38 HR Diagram
Figure 3 shows the color magnitude diagram obtained. This diagram allows us to conclude
that, according to our observations and data reduction, the age of that cluster is approximately
500 million years because its isochrone is the one that best fits with the shape of our graphic.
However, this result is only qualitative, and a further analysis considering a larger sample of
stars an improved reddening correction should be performed in order to accurately determine
the distance to the cluster.
The stars that are far from the main sequence of the diagram are probably field stars that were
also measured in the same field of M38.
The result of our research may seem far from other results for this cluster such as the obtained
from the URL 1, which set the age of the cluster in 220 Myr.
In 1999, A. Subramaiam et al. (Annapurni Subramaniam, 1999) performed a study of several
clusters including M38 (also known as NGC 1912) which determined through Color-Magnitudes
diagrams and isochrones fits the age of this cluster in 250 Myr. With this study they also
estimated the distance to M38 in 1820 265 Pc.



9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
-0.500 0.000 0.500 1.000 1.500
V

B-V
HR
Isoc 2.2e8
Isoc 1e8
Isoc 5e8
10

5 Acknowledgements
I would like to thank in first place to Obra Social Catalunya Caixa to offer, not only to me but to
lots of young and talented people a chance to expand their capacities and initiate them in the
world of science. I would also like to thank my tutor Enrique Herrero for his invaluable
contribution and help even when it was difficult to, and to Francesc Vilardell for programming
and supervising the data acquisition at the Montsec Astronomical Observatory. Finally, I wish
to thank personally all my partners from Joves I Ciencia for helping me giving their support
when it was possible.
6 Appendix

mB mV B V B-V
2.291 1.686 13.350 12.788 0.313
1.224 0.543 12.283 11.645 0.389
3.935 3.092 14.994 14.194 0.551
2.546 1.427 13.605 12.529 0.827
0.457 -0.075 11.516 11.027 0.240
-0.101 -0.763 10.958 10.339 0.370
-0.202 -1.385 10.857 9.717 0.891
4.169 2.273 15.228 13.375 1.604
0.783 0.357 11.842 11.459 0.134
0.243 -0.117 11.302 10.985 0.068
4.101 3.316 15.160 14.418 0.493
0.117 -0.302 11.176 10.800 0.127
4.390 3.609 15.449 14.711 0.489
1.381 0.888 12.440 11.990 0.201
0.622 0.191 11.681 11.293 0.139
3.583 2.271 14.642 13.373 1.020
3.277 2.574 14.336 13.676 0.411
2.557 1.857 13.616 12.959 0.408
4.280 3.407 15.339 14.509 0.581
2.624 2.010 13.683 13.112 0.322
1.630 1.110 12.689 12.212 0.228
0.875 0.400 11.934 11.502 0.183
3.362 2.456 14.421 13.558 0.614
0.932 0.451 11.991 11.553 0.189
3.534 2.513 14.593 13.615 0.729
-0.310 -0.791 10.749 10.311 0.189
1.619 1.082 12.678 12.184 0.245
1.551 0.981 12.610 12.083 0.278
2.795 2.157 13.854 13.259 0.346
0.155 -0.286 11.214 10.816 0.149
3.165 2.471 14.224 13.573 0.402
11

3.681 2.907 14.740 14.009 0.482
2.899 2.255 13.958 13.357 0.352
2.994 2.235 14.053 13.337 0.467
1.677 1.198 12.736 12.300 0.187
1.753 1.210 12.812 12.312 0.251
4.891 3.971 15.950 15.073 0.628
0.880 0.417 11.939 11.519 0.171
4.400 3.498 15.459 14.600 0.610
3.980 3.404 15.039 14.506 0.284
4.525 3.417 15.584 14.519 0.816
-0.099 -1.293 10.960 9.809 0.902
2.979 2.332 14.038 13.434 0.355
1.641 1.150 12.700 12.252 0.199
1.565 0.355 12.624 11.457 0.918
2.977 2.333 14.036 13.435 0.352
1.520 1.014 12.579 12.116 0.214
2.235 1.563 13.294 12.665 0.380
2.913 2.208 13.972 13.310 0.413
1.802 1.292 12.861 12.394 0.218
2.698 2.055 13.757 13.157 0.351
-0.046 -0.538 11.013 10.564 0.200
0.616 0.157 11.675 11.259 0.167
2.713 2.028 13.772 13.130 0.393
2.215 1.335 13.274 12.437 0.588
-0.372 -0.865 10.687 10.237 0.201
2.029 1.486 13.088 12.588 0.251
2.281 1.696 13.340 12.798 0.293
0.850 0.328 11.909 11.430 0.230
2.281 1.696 13.340 12.798 0.293
2.717 1.531 13.776 12.633 0.894
2.701 1.985 13.760 13.087 0.424
2.609 1.950 13.668 13.052 0.367
-0.480 -0.983 10.579 10.119 0.211
1.471 0.884 12.530 11.986 0.295
1.620 1.016 12.679 12.118 0.312
-0.166 -0.596 10.893 10.506 0.138
0.479 -0.054 11.538 11.048 0.241
3.271 2.274 14.330 13.376 0.705
1.425 0.907 12.484 12.009 0.226
2.240 1.489 13.299 12.591 0.459
-0.056 -0.529 11.003 10.573 0.181
-0.507 -0.969 10.552 10.133 0.170
0.637 0.149 11.696 11.251 0.196
3.189 2.368 14.248 13.470 0.529
1.115 0.641 12.174 11.743 0.182
12

2.160 1.581 13.219 12.683 0.287
1.608 1.027 12.667 12.129 0.289
3.209 2.507 14.268 13.609 0.410
1.247 0.854 12.306 11.956 0.101
3.058 2.365 14.117 13.467 0.401
4.051 3.254 15.110 14.356 0.505
1.207 0.694 12.266 11.796 0.221
1.225 0.734 12.284 11.836 0.199
1.353 0.843 12.412 11.945 0.218
1.493 0.955 12.552 12.057 0.246
1.395 0.870 12.454 11.972 0.233
-0.342 -0.797 10.717 10.305 0.163
1.813 1.243 12.872 12.345 0.278
1.354 0.779 12.413 11.881 0.283
1.148 0.625 12.207 11.727 0.231
1.633 1.043 12.692 12.145 0.298
-0.034 -0.839 11.025 10.263 0.513
2.586 1.936 13.645 13.038 0.358
1.628 0.967 12.687 12.069 0.369

Table 2 - Data of the 95 stars from M38 analyzed in the present paper. The first and second columns are the
instrumental B and V magnitudes. The second column is the apparent magnitude of the star in the B filter. The third
column is the V magnitude and the last is the color index of the star.
6 - References

Wikipedia - Planks Law. (2011, January). Retrieved January 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck's_law
Annapurni Subramaniam, R. S. (1999). Multicolor CCD Photometry and Stellar Evolutionary
Analysis of NGC 1907, NGC 1912, NGC 283, NGC 2384 and NGC 6709 Using Synthetic
CMD. The Astronomical Journal.
Kaler, J. B. (1989). Stars and their Spectra: An Introduction to the Spectral Sequence. Cambridge
University Press.
La radiacin del cuerpo negro. (n.d.). Retrieved 2011, from
http://www.sc.ehu.es/sbweb/fisica/cuantica/negro/radiacion/radiacion.htm
Maier, M., & Heil, K. (2008). CCD Photometry.
Montsec Astronomical Observatory. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.oadm.cat/eng/infgeneral_oam.php?section=tech&subsec=instr
Morgan, W., & Keenan, P. (1973). Spectral Classification. Anual Review of Astronomy and
Astrophysics, vol 11, p.29.
13

Sekiguchi, M., & Fukugita, M. (2000). A Study of the B-V Color-Temperature Relation. The
Astronomical Journal.
Siess L., D. E. (2000). Astronomy and Astrophisycs, 358, 593.
Smith, R. C. (1995). Observational Astrophysics. Cambridge University Press.
Stellar Magnitudes. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2010, from
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/stars/magnitudes.html
Strobel, N. (2007, June 2). Magnitude System. Retrieved October 23, 2010, from
http://www.astronomynotes.com/starprop/s4.htm