Zero Age Main Sequence
The purpose of the ZAMS project is to build a Zero Age Main Sequence relationship. The relationship is a plot of color vs. magnitude (CMD) also known as a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. The main sequence represents stars of average size that follow a trend dependent on luminosity and surface temperature. When main sequence stars are plotted using this relationship, they follow a specific pattern close to a cubic relationship. Overall, the diagram represents current physical properties of various types of stars. The relationship can be used to predict stellar evolution. The evolution can be implied as to how the stars will evolve, or how they have evolved since the start of their “hydrogen burning” process known as the zero point. The initial physical characteristics of the stars is known as the ZAMS relationship.
The study includes star clusters with stars of various age, magnitude, color and additional factors. Each cluster represents stars that have been formed around the same time and usually are quite similar in many ways. The zero age of the cluster allows astronomers to understand not only how the stars have evolved but how the entire cluster has evolved over its lifetime.
The UBVRI representation of the ZAMS project has been well developed. Our interest in the project is due to the fact that the u’g’r’i’z’ photometric results of the ZAMS relationship is poorly known.
Below is our latest poster presented at the 2006 AAS meeting.
The abstract for the poster can also be seen below.
The Red Buttes Observatory’s Wide-Field Telescope's ZAMS Project
In addition to the ZAMS project, DDO CMD’s are being produced by observation of various clusters. The research project includes a series of globular clusters imaged using the DDO 38, 41, 42, 45, 48 and 51 filters. The survey has also includes DDO standard stars and Landolt (1992) standard stars. Overall the project will result in new isochrone-age dating and metallicity values for a large quantity of globular clusters. The survey will also include secondary standard stars and their magnitudes.
Additional abstracts and information can be seen below.
New DDO Photometric Equatorial Standard Stars Between 9.0 < M48 < 16.0: Preliminary Results
Deep CCD DDO Photometry of M15 and M71 Globular Clusters
