NGC 5024 or also known as M53 is a globular cluster that is located in the Coma Berenices constellation. Coma Berenices is an ancient asterism in the northern sky which is defined as one of the 88 modern constellations. NGC 5024 is visible everywhere in the northern constellation except Antarctica. NGC 5024 was discovered by a German astronomer, Johann Elert Bode who is famous for his reformulation of the Titius-Bode law and for determining the orbit of Uranus. NGC 5024 is one of the outlying globular clusters, about 60,000 light years away from the Galactic center. Since this cluster is about 12 ~ 13 billion years old, the star is considered an old cluster that consists of poor metal. Most of the stars in this cluster are considered first-generation stars in a red giant branch as elements measured in this cluster are mostly heavier elements than hydrogen and helium.

To observe NGC 5024, in my FYRE project, I collected the data of NGC 5024  through Skynet using the PROMPT-MO-1 telescope (used PROMPT-USASK, Prompt2, prompt5 as well, but was unable to obtain images from those).

• 15 exposure images were gathered which consist of 5 Blue images. 5 Green images, and 5 Red images.
• RA:  13:12:55.199
• Dev: 18:10:05.4
• Exps: 1

 

B filter stacked image of NGC 5024 with Blue colour map	V filter stacked image of NGC 5024 with Green colour map	R filter stacked image of NGC 5024 with Red colour map

After 5 Images of each filter were collected from Skynet, with Skynet afterglow, images from the same filter were stacked with each other to reduce the error presented in the images. Finally, the images were colour mapped with their colour so the images can be combined to create the true colour represented in the image.

Reddened image of NGC 5024

Three B, V, and R filter images were combined to create this reddened image of NGC 5024. The reddened image is the image that we can observe from Earth. Since the light coming out from this image gets scattered as it goes through the space dust on its way to Earth (more blue waves get scattered in the dust than the red waves), the image here shows more red than blue. This makes the prediction of the stars difficult.

To resolve this problem, we used Cluster Pro Plus in the Skynet plotting site to create a de-reddened image of the NGC 5024 cluster.

Using Cluster Pro Plus to estimate the right isochrone model for NGC 5024
Left graph: Gaia M_RP vs BP-RP
Right graph: 2MASS M_H vs J-H

De-reddened image of NGC 5024

Through the de-reddened process, we obtained the de-reddened image of NGC 5024. This image is the image we will observe when observing from space. Compared to the reddened image, there might be not much visible difference in the image as the stars in the cluster mostly finished their hydrogen fusion in the core, so the stars do not produce much blue wave compared to young clusters. Therefore, most of the light observed is reddish.

Overall, the FYRE project was the first actual project I did in my life since I never finished a project from the beginning to the end. Honestly, this project was enjoyable and made me excited as I worked through it because as I adjust values, the values changed the outcomes which vary a lot even with a small change in the adjustment. Also, I gained lots of knowledge about astronomy as I took observations, estimate the colour of the cluster, and determine the age of the cluster by adjusting values throughout the project. It was honestly a great experience in many ways and I feel rewarded for the things I achieve through this project.

 

References:

Wikipedia