Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21545527m&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #455.27; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.477
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Mercer 17 is a recently discovered and as yet unstudied candidate star cluster located in the inner disk of the Milky Way (Mercer et al. 2005 ApJ 635, 560). Follow up studies are necessary to test the validity of proposed star clusters identified by imaging. The majority of well studied star clusters are outer galaxy clusters because of decreased extinction there. Using infrared enables probing into the inner galaxy to larger distances and to younger environments. Determining the basic properties of these newly discovered star cluster candidates, like Mercer 17, provides new insight into their formation. We obtained medium resolution (R=560-780) H- and K-band spectroscopy for eight of the brightest stars using the Mimir near-infrared instrument on the Perkins 1.83m telescope outside Flagstaff, Arizona. In addition to the spectroscopy observations, deep JHK band photometry was obtained for the cluster. Using these imaging and spectroscopic data, we present classified spectra and derived magnitudes of the stars in Mercer 17. Combining color magnitude diagrams and spectroscopy, we estimate basic cluster properties including age, distance, and total mass.
Partially funded by an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Award as a Clare Boothe Luce Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow and NSF grants AST 06-07500 and AST 09-07790
Clemens Dennis
Jameson Katherine
Moreau Julie May
Pavel Michael
Pinnick April
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