Munipack ‒ Colour — Magnitude Diagram Tutorial

# Colour — Magnitude Diagram

How to create of a colour-magnitude (CMD) diagram which is a photometric equivalent of the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram.

# Open cluster M 67

Open cluster M 67 is an old galactic cluster with a differently evolved stars which covers wide range of colour indexes. All stars are approximately same old, but due to its different initial masses and the fact that heavy stars gets older quickly, we are observing the cluster members in different stages of evolution.

## Data Processing

To get CMD, follow these points:

The files M67_*_MAG.fits contains the table:

α [J2000] | δ [J2000] | instrumental magnitude | std. deviation
--- | --- | --- | ---
132.8228301 | 11.7562805 | 7.62841 | .00036
… | … | … |

To match and visualise data, topcat (part of Virtual Observatory software) can be recommended.

## Determination of Properties of M67

One can be easy compared with models tabulated in the article Theoretical isochrones from models with new radiative opacities, Bertelli G., Bressan A., Chiosi C., Fagotto F., Nasi E, Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 106, 275 (1994) tables can be downloaded here: ftp://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/pub/cats/J/A+AS/106/275

Colour - magnitude diagram for M 67. The star track for 10 Gyr, Z=0.0080, Y=0.25 and 1 kpc.

The models can be easy plotted and one can determine basic astrophysical characteristics of M 67 open cluster:

- chemical composition
- age
- distance

## Notes

This is the outline of the real method used to determine the parameters of clusters in astrophysics. The fitting of the main sequence and the turning point gives an age estimation, at least as wishful thinking.

The presented method is focused on use of Munipack. Therefore we are ignoring some astrophysical difficulties:

- Some stars on the images may be not members of the cluster. Independent tests on base of proper motions or distance measurements should be used to select only the right members.
- The colours are affected by the interstellar extinction which deforms observational data. The extinction has different fluency onto short- and long-wavelength fluxes. One can be mapped by using of tree filters together.
- We are believing in theoretical models (which may be, generally, false idea).
- The colour indexes B-V,V-R can be used to construction of extinction diagram.
- Instrumental magnitudes are used. To get more precise results, use photometric calibration along with Photometric System Transformation.

## See Also

Photometry calibration, Photometric System Transformation, Photometry Format.