OPEN STAR
CLUSTER M11
Rosalina Bonilla
Jennifer Hsieh
Mary Lou Juanatas
Cluster 7: Stars, Sight, and
Science
OUTLINE
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Background of Star Clusters
Description of project
Messier 11
Ideal Gas Law
Star Formation
Stellar Evolution
Observation & data collection of M11
Data analysis
Results & conclusions
What are open star clusters?
Group of stars born
at the same time
 Cluster contains Hot
Young stars
 Found in the disk of
spiral galaxies
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Metallicity – how much
heavy elements are in the
object
Open cluster have lots of
metals
MAIN OBJECTIVES
How
old is M11?
How do we know?
Why does it matter?
Fun Facts about M11
Nick Name: The Wild Duck Cluster
 One of the richest and most compact of
open cluster
 Discovered in 1681 by Gottfriend Kirch
 3000 stars
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Ideal Gas Law
P= pressure
 V= volume
 n= number of particles
 T= temperature
 R= gas constant
 P V= n RT
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Star Formation
Protostar – dust and
gas collapses under
gravity
 Pressure balances
the forces of gravity
 Molecules in the
protostar radiate
allowing it to shrink
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Stellar Structure/Evolution
Main sequence –
hydrogen fuses into
helium in the core
 Red giants swell up,
causing the outer
layers to cool which
makes them red
 This happens when
the core runs out of
hydrogen
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OBSERVATION
DATA ANALYSIS
CONCLUSION
M11 is 90 million years old with an ± of 10
million years
 Using the isoplot program we estimated the
age of our M11
 Open star clusters help us determine the
metallicity of our universe
 The metalllicity of the universe is important
because we’re made of metals
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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Advisors
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Vision Science
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Gabriel, Gene, Jason P., Jim, Joy, & Maribell
Astronomy
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Jason Melbourne
Nick Konidaris
David, Elinor, Jason, Lynne, Marla, Nick, Scott
Sea., Scott Sev.
Teacher Fellow / Sci. Comm.
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Gary / Pascha
REFERENCES
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WWW.ANTWRP.GFSC.NASA.GOV
Http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.ht
ml (Astronomy Pic. of the Day)
Http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/ (Lick
observatory)
www.tcho.la.asu.edu/
www.soral.as.arizona.edu/
www.ctio.noao.edu/
www.star.le.ac.uk/
www.physics.nwu.edu/
QUESTIONS?????