NGC 5897 is a globular cluster it is located in the constellation Libra. It is located about 41000 light years away from us. It is not a messier Object and thus does not have a Messier Number.

I first looked at NGC 5897 in an Astronomy class at the U of S. Me and another person (Thomas Brown) compiled a total of 30 images. 10 of the 30 are in one of three filters R, V, and B. I used the Prompt MO 1 whilst my partner used the Prompt 5 telescope. For the Blue (b) filter I did an exposure length of 281 seconds, Green (v) I had an exposure length of 241 seconds, and for the red Filter (R) I had an exposure length of 221. My partners should be at the same time just minus 1 second. The images were combined using Skynet (Lillith Obv-https://skynet.unc.edu/obs/view?id=8961711, Thomas B obv https://skynet.unc.edu/obs/view?id=8993203) and afterglow was used to stack all the images to create the image bellow.

The project’s aim was for us students to find the relationships between the colour that stars and subsequently star clusters give off. The colours determine the star’s brightness, age, and chemical composition of the stars. The cluster I observed led me to some conclusions, the distance of the star from Earth is 17.8 kpc with an error of %86, and it has a right ascension of -5.4 plus or minus 0.111 mas/yr and a declaration of -3.401 plus or minus 0.144 mas/yr. The below graph shows the metalicity as well as some extra data.

My experiences in this project were incredibly fun. I love seeing images of space and being able to create coloured images of objects is super great. Making accurate data though is a bit harder. The graph below shows data that was collected by other scientists of the star I observed and well has a more accurate picture. Even with the use of good graphing tools such as cluster pro plus My data pails in comparison to what actually trained scientists in this field can do and probably in a fraction of the time.

All in all, this was an incredibly fun experience and maybe in the future, I will be able to do something like this again. I also think that everyone should do a class like this who is even the slightest bit interested in space and has the same joy and feelings about being able to pull up an image and go I am the reason this image exists and maybe it will be put to good use someday.