Problem: To find the ages of two clusters of stars by plotting stellar data on a color-magnitude diagram.
Hypothesis: I believe that the age of M45 will be significantly younger than that of 47 Tuc as 47 Tuc is a globular cluster and those tend to contain older stars.
Procedure: 1) I plotted both sets of data in the form of a scatter plot. 2) I identified the red giant stars on the graph and circled them. 3) I determined which of the two clusters is close to Earth. 4) I estimated the lifetimes of each of the clusters using the table provided that indicates lifetime as it relates to spectral type.
Data and Calculations: Can be found on the worksheet and graph that will be turned in tomorrow.
Conclusions: From this lab I learned how color and magnitude can be used to determine the rough age of a star or star cluster. My hypothesis was correct in that the stars in 47 Tuc are in fact older than the stars in M45. Possible error in this lab is found in the inaccuracy of the graph and the age estimate is only rough as we can only guess as to the spectral classification.
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