OCAAT: Automated analysis of star cluster colour-magnitude diagrams for gauging the local distance scale

Star clusters are among the fundamental astrophysical objects used in setting the local distance scale. Despite its crucial importance, the accurate determination of the distances to the Magellanic Clouds (SMC/LMC) remains a fuzzy step in the cosmological distance ladder. The exquisite astrometry of...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Perren, Gabriel Ignacio, Vázquez, Rubén Ángel, Piatti, Andrés E., Moitinho, André
Formato: Articulo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2015
Materias:
Ciencias Astronómicas
cosmology: distance scale
galaxies: star clusters
methods: data analysis
methods: statistical
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/86788
Aporte de:
SEDICI (UNLP) de Universidad Nacional de La Plata
id I19-R120-10915-86788
record_format dspace
institution Universidad Nacional de La Plata
institution_str I-19
repository_str R-120
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
language Inglés
topic Ciencias Astronómicas
cosmology: distance scale
galaxies: star clusters
methods: data analysis
methods: statistical
spellingShingle Ciencias Astronómicas
cosmology: distance scale
galaxies: star clusters
methods: data analysis
methods: statistical
Perren, Gabriel Ignacio
Vázquez, Rubén Ángel
Piatti, Andrés E.
Moitinho, André
OCAAT: Automated analysis of star cluster colour-magnitude diagrams for gauging the local distance scale
topic_facet Ciencias Astronómicas
cosmology: distance scale
galaxies: star clusters
methods: data analysis
methods: statistical
description Star clusters are among the fundamental astrophysical objects used in setting the local distance scale. Despite its crucial importance, the accurate determination of the distances to the Magellanic Clouds (SMC/LMC) remains a fuzzy step in the cosmological distance ladder. The exquisite astrometry of the recently launched ESA Gaia mission is expected to deliver extremely accurate statistical parallaxes, and thus distances, to the SMC/LMC. However, an independent SMC/LMC distance determination via main sequence fitting of star clusters provides an important validation check point for the Gaia distances. This has been a valuable lesson learnt from the famous Hipparcos Pleiades distance discrepancy problem. Current observations will allow hundreds of LMC/SMC clusters to be analyzed in this light. Today, the most common approach for star cluster main sequence fitting is still by eye. The process is intrinsically subjective and affected by large uncertainties, especially when applied to poorly populated clusters. It is also, clearly, not an efficient route for addressing the analysis of hundreds, or thousands, of star clusters. These concerns, together with a new attitude towards advanced statistical techniques in astronomy and the availability of powerful computers, have led to the emergence of software packages designed for analyzing star cluster photometry. With a few rare exceptions, those packages are not publicly available. Here we present OCAAT (Open Cluster Automated Analysis Tool), a suite of publicly available open source tools that fully automatises cluster isochrone fitting. The code will be applied to a large set of hundreds of open clusters observed in the Washington system, located in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. This will allow us to generate an objective and homogeneous catalog of distances up to ~ 60 kpc along with its associated reddening, ages and metallicities and uncertainty estimates.
format Articulo
Articulo
author Perren, Gabriel Ignacio
Vázquez, Rubén Ángel
Piatti, Andrés E.
Moitinho, André
author_facet Perren, Gabriel Ignacio
Vázquez, Rubén Ángel
Piatti, Andrés E.
Moitinho, André
author_sort Perren, Gabriel Ignacio
title OCAAT: Automated analysis of star cluster colour-magnitude diagrams for gauging the local distance scale
title_short OCAAT: Automated analysis of star cluster colour-magnitude diagrams for gauging the local distance scale
title_full OCAAT: Automated analysis of star cluster colour-magnitude diagrams for gauging the local distance scale
title_fullStr OCAAT: Automated analysis of star cluster colour-magnitude diagrams for gauging the local distance scale
title_full_unstemmed OCAAT: Automated analysis of star cluster colour-magnitude diagrams for gauging the local distance scale
title_sort ocaat: automated analysis of star cluster colour-magnitude diagrams for gauging the local distance scale
publishDate 2015
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/86788
work_keys_str_mv AT perrengabrielignacio ocaatautomatedanalysisofstarclustercolourmagnitudediagramsforgaugingthelocaldistancescale
AT vazquezrubenangel ocaatautomatedanalysisofstarclustercolourmagnitudediagramsforgaugingthelocaldistancescale
AT piattiandrese ocaatautomatedanalysisofstarclustercolourmagnitudediagramsforgaugingthelocaldistancescale
AT moitinhoandre ocaatautomatedanalysisofstarclustercolourmagnitudediagramsforgaugingthelocaldistancescale
bdutipo_str Repositorios
_version_ 1764820489344122881

Ejemplares similares