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Jason LaCroix
University of Missouri-St. Louis
Advisor: Dr. Bruce Wilking
Abstract
In this project the Serpens star-forming region is examined to find ages and masses of young stars. The Serpens star-forming region (SFR) was imaged in the optical V and R wavelength bands using the 2.3-meter Bok telescope with the 90prime CCD. Photometry was performed on over 1300 sources using IRAF. Two histograms were created to show the "magnitude of completion" for the data, which indicates the limiting magnitude for an unbiased sample. This information along with a color-color diagram was used to create an unbiased observing list for ongoing spectroscopic study of the Serpens SFR using the Bok telescope with the BC spectrograph. In addition a graph of V versus (V-R) was created to show the distribution of stars in terms of their magnitude and temperature. This graph is similar to an HR diagram. Isochrones are placed on top the V versus (V-R) diagram to estimate the age of the cluster. Data from the Infrared Space Observatory, Chandra X-ray observatory, and the European XMM-Newton x-ray telescope were used to identify 39 young stellar objects with either x-ray emission (33) or infrared excess due to circumstellar dust (6). We found that in the Serpens star-forming region, the sample is complete in the V band down to a magnitude of 20.5 and in the R band to a magnitude of 18.5. The age of the cluster was found to be between 1 million and 5 million years.
Jason LaCroix is a Senior in physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Missouri in Saint Louis.
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