CHRISTIAN COLLEGE CHENGANNUR

RESEARCH AND POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

UNIVERSITY OF KERALA

PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED FOR THE SITH SEMESTER

BSc. PHYSICS EXAMINATION

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 DETERMINATION OF THE AGE OF GLOBULAR CLUSTERS

PROJECT REPORT

SUBMITTED BY:

DC III PHYSICS

CHRISTIAN COLLEGE CHENGANNUR

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF: Dr ABRAHAM A

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

CHRISTIAN COLLEGE CHENGANNUR

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this project titled the determination of the age of
globular clusters is a record of the work done by during the
year 2021 in the practical fulfilment for the award of the Degree of the
Bachelor of Sciencein physics from the University of Kerala.

Year of study: 2018-2021

Date of examination:

Assistant Professor Head of the Department

Department of Physics Department of Physics

Christian College Christian College

EXAMINERS:

1.

2.

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 DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the project entitled, “THE DETERMINATION OF THE AGE
OF GLOBULAR CLUSTERS” is an authentic record of the project work carried
out by me under the guidance of .........., Assistant Professor, Department of
Physics, Christian College

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank all those who have helped me directly or indirectly in various stages of this
project work. First of all,

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 GLOBULAR CLUSTERS

Globular clusters are tightly packed, symmetrical collections of stars, orbiting

mostly in the extended star halos surrounding most spiral galaxies. Globular
clusters contain some of the oldest stars in a galaxy and are thought to have
formed early in its history.

They can reach 300 light-years in diameter and contain 10 million stars. Unlike
the open star clusters – containing sibling stars, scattered through the disk of
our galaxy and presumably other galaxies – globular clusters are big,
symmetric and old, like an earthly city’s oldest and most staid citizens.

Here are some ways that globular star clusters and open star clusters are
different:

Globular star cluster are very symmetrical in shape, and are densest toward
their centers. Open star clusters are more irregular in shape. Globular clusters
orbit in the halo of our galaxy, centered on the galaxy’s center and expanding
above and below the galactic disk. Open star clusters tend to orbit within the
disk. Globular star clusters contain hundreds of thousands of stars, and some –
like Omega Centauri, shown above – contain millions of stars. Open star
clusters tend to contain only hundreds of stars.

The most famous globular cluster in the northern hemisphere is M13 in the
constellation of Hercules, sometimes referred to as the Great Globular Cluster,
which was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714. Charles Messier later added
it into his famous catalog in 1764. In amateur telescopes, it is a small fuzzy
patch of light, some 22,000 light-years from Earth. At the center of this cluster,
stars orbit so closely that occasionally they collide, their deaths leading to the

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creation of new stars known as “blue stragglers.” This stellar population is the
only type of newer stars in globular clusters.

The famous globular cluster Messier 13 or M13 – largest and brightest globular cluster easily visible from the
Northern Hemisphere – seen against its star field. At 25,000 light-years away and about 145 light-years in
diameter, M13 is a popular target for amateur astronomers using small telescopes. Image via Fred Espenak.

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This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the core of the great globular cluster Messier 13, in the
constellation Hercules

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1.1.1. Formation

Globular clusters have traditionally been described as a simple star population

formed from a single giant molecular cloud, and thus with roughly uniform age
and metallicity (proportion of heavy elements in their composition).

Observations of globular clusters show that their stars primarily come from
regions of more efficient star formation, and from where the interstellar
medium is at a higher density, as compared to normal star-forming regions.
Globular cluster formation is prevalent in starburst regions and in interacting
galaxies. Some globular clusters likely formed in dwarf galaxies and were
removed by tidal forces to join the Milky Way. In elliptical and lenticular
galaxies there is a correlation between the mass of the supermassive black
holes (SMBHs) at their centers and the extent of their globular cluster systems.
The mass of the SMBH in such a galaxy is often close to the combined mass of
the galaxy's globular clusters

1.1.2. Composition

Globular clusters are generally composed of hundreds of thousands of low-

metal, old stars. The type of stars found in a globular cluster are similar to
those in the bulge of a spiral galaxy but confined to a spheroid in which half
the light is emitted within a radius of only a few to a few tens of parsecs. They
are free of gas and dust and it is presumed that all of the gas and dust was
long ago either turned into stars or blown out of the cluster by the massive
first-generation stars.

To determine the age of a globular cluster, astronomers rely on the

assumption that all the stars in the cluster formed at the same time and are
the same distance from us. But the stars don’t all have the same mass. Because
mass influences a star’s longevity, a star cluster gives us a special snapshot of a
bunch of stars that are all the same age but at different points in their
evolution.0

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1.2. H-R DIAGRAM
Astronomers often use a plot called the Hertzprung-Russell (H-R) diagram. The
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HR diagram) is one of the most important tools
in the study of stellar evolution. Developed independently in the early 1900s
by Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell, it plots the temperature of stars
against their luminosity (the theoretical HR diagram), or the colour of stars (or
spectral type) against their absolute magnitude (the observational HR diagram,
also known as a colour-magnitude diagram).

Depending on its initial mass, every star goes through specific evolutionary
stages dictated by its internal structure and how it produces energy. Each of
these stages corresponds to a change in the temperature and luminosity of the
star, which can be seen to move to different regions on the HR diagram as it
evolves. This reveals the true power of the HR diagram – astronomers can
know a star’s internal structure and evolutionary stage simply by determining
its position in the diagram.

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1.2.1. Interpretation

Most of the stars occupy the region in the diagram along the line called the
main sequence. During the stage of their lives in which stars are found on the
main sequence line, they are fusing hydrogen in their cores.

In this main sequence we find that the hotter a star is, the greater its absolute
magnitude. Both these factors are determined by the stars mass. However,
giant and supergiant stars tend to expand in the final stages of their lives and
become cooler as a result; but because they are so big, they are very bright,
and thus appear above and to the right of the main sequence. White Dwarf
stars, on the other hand, are extremely hot and dense, but because of their
small size, they are not very luminous. As a result, they can be found below
and to the left of the main sequence. In general, stars will spend most of their
life (~90%) on the main sequence before evolving into a giant star for the
remaining 10%. Following that, they will either go supernova or become a
white dwarf.

Note that the x-axis (horizontal axis) of the HR-Diagram can be given in many
different forms, such as the star's temperature (Kelvin), its spectral class
(OBAFGKM) or indeed its colour.

1.2.2. H-R diagram and globular clusters

Since globular clusters form at once from a single giant molecular cloud, a
cluster's stars have roughly the same age and composition. A star's evolution is
primarily determined by its initial mass, so the positions of stars in a cluster's
H–R or color–magnitude diagram mostly reflect their initial masses. A cluster's
H–R diagram, therefore, appears quite different than H–R diagrams containing
stars of a wide variety of ages. Almost all stars fall on a well-defined curve in
globular cluster H–R diagrams, and that curve's shape indicates the age of the
cluster.

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Drawing a diagonal line across this diagram marks the main sequence. As the
cluster ages, the massive, blue stars run out of fuel first. When a star dies, it
stops fusing hydrogen and begins fusing helium. Because this happens at a
much higher temperature, the star’s outer atmosphere expands, and it turns
into a red giant. As the name suggests, a red giant is reddish in color, so a
bright, blue star has now evolved into a bright, red star, and its place on the H-
R diagram shifts.

1.2.3. Calculating the age of the cluster from turnoff points.

While main sequence stars trace a diagonal line on the H-R diagram, red giant
stars create a horizontal line in varying shades of red. This is called the red
giant branch. As more of the big stars move onto the red giant branch, the top
part of the main sequence disappears. This is called the main sequence turnoff.
The turnoff point for a star refers to the point on the Hertzsprung-Russell
diagram where it leaves the main sequence after the exhaustion of its main
fuel.

Because we know how a star’s mass determines how quickly it burns its fuel
and where it falls on the diagram, we can use the main sequence turnoff to
figure out the age of the cluster

By plotting the turnoff point of the stars in star clusters, one can estimate the
cluster's age.

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 Spectral Apparent G-R Temperature* Turnoff
Luminosity*
Classification Colour Colour * Age

< 40
-1.0 to
O Blue > 30,000 > 30,000 million
-0.5
years

40
-0.5 to 25,000– million–
B Light blue 10,000–30,000
-0.3 30,000 2.3 billion
years

2.3–5.1
-0.2 to
A White 5–25 7,500–10,000 billion
0.2
years

5.1–9.3
0.2 to
F Light yellow 1.5–5 6,000–7,500 billion
0.3
years

9.3–15.6
0.3 to
G Yellow 0.6–1.5 5,200–6,000 billion
0.6
years

15.6–49.4
0.6 to
K Orange 0.08–0.6 3,700–5,200 billion
1.4
years‡

>49.4
1.4 to
M Red < 0.08 2,400–3,700 billion
2.0
years‡

Table 1 Characteristics of stars in the seven spectral classes.

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

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2.1. PROCEDURE

In order to determine the age of the universe, we calculate the ages of some of
the oldest stars and approximate the age of the universe from their age. And
as we mentioned earlier, most of the oldest stars are found in globular
clusters. So we calculate the age of these globular clusters and find out the age
of our universe.

In this methodology, we first collect the data of some globular clusters, make
an H-R (Hertzsprung- Russell) diagram, and finally find the turn off point and
match it with the turnoff points of the star classification.

2.1.1. Collecting Globular Cluster Data

1. Choose a star cluster from Table 2 and make note of its celestial
coordinates.
STAR CLUSTER NAME Ra (in degrees) Dec (in degrees)

NGC 2401 112.35168 -13.96623

NGC 2420 114.59958 21.57409

Pal 5 229.02208 -0.11139

Table 2

2. Use the Internet to access the Sloan Digital Sky Survey image finding tool.

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3. Then input the right ascension and declination in the parameters box and
click the "Get Image" button, below the parameters box. Then checkmark
the boxes "Grid" and "Label” from the drawing options. To get a better view
of the globular cluster we can “zoom in” or “zoom out” accordingly.

4. Using the length scale in the top left corner of the image, estimate the size
in arc minutes of the globular cluster. The size will likely be in the range of
1.5' to 3.0'. Make a note of how big the cluster is in arc minutes, and take a
screenshot of the cluster (using the print screen on your keyboard), with the
image zoomed as near to the size of the cluster as possible.

[NOTE: Just like the solar system or galaxy has a size, globular clusters also
have a size. This is recorded in units called arc minutes and arc seconds. There
are 60 arc seconds in 1 arcminute and the larger a globular cluster appears to
be in the sky, the more arcminutes across it is. The arcminute symbol is
denoted by an apostrophe (') and arc seconds by end quotation marks ("). Of

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the objects you can see with the naked eye, the Sun is around 31' in size, the
Moon is around 30', and Jupiter is around 40'.]

5. Now use the Internet to access the Sloan Digital Sky Survey radial tool.

Then download a CSV file (spread sheet file) containing the data about the
globular cluster. Then input the size of the globular cluster you just
estimated. Change the number of rows to "all rows". Finally, change the
"Format" to "CSV," and click the "Submit" button, to download the file.

2.1.2. Make an H-R Diagram

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1. Open the CSV file in Microsoft Excel. Each row has information about a
different star in the cluster; each column contains a different type of
information about the star. The important data for this project is the
colour magnitude values of each star in the globular cluster. Scroll down to
the bottom of the file and make a note of the number of the last row.

2. Make a new column in the spread sheet where you will fill in the colour of
each star. Calculate the colour by subtracting the r value for a star from
the g value (g-r = star colour). After you have calculated the colour for
each star, save the file and continue with the next step.

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 3. In the next step, we construct the H-R diagram with the plotting feature in
Microsoft Excel.

Highlight any two adjacent columns. On the top bar, click "Insert" then
click "Scatter" for a scatter-point plot, and select "Scatter with only markers"
to create a plot with only the points.

Assign the titles star colour to the x-axis and star luminosity to the y-axis.

Now, to complete the H-R diagram, double-click on the numbers on the y-axis
to bring up the "Format axes" box. Under "Axis Options," change the
"Minimum" and "Maximum" values to get a useful zoom on the data points.
Avoid letting the x and y axes go into negative numbers. Check the "Values in

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reverse order" box. Double-click on the numbers on the x-axis and adjust the
zoom there, too.

You can also change the axis name and the plot title by clicking on them. The
y-axis should be labelled "star luminosity (g)" and the x-axis should be labelled
"star colour (g-r)".

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Then we find the turnoff point on the H-R diagram. If there are too few
points, go back to the radial search tool website and increase the number of
arcminutes. If there are too many points, and the plot looks messy, reduce
the number of arcminutes in the radial search tool.

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2.1.3. Match the Turnoff Point to a Star Classification

After identifying the location of the turnoff point on the H-R diagram,
determine the star luminosity (y-axis) and star colour (x-axis) values for the
turnoff point. Record these in a data table in your lab notebook.

From the table 1 find the class of stars that match the luminosity and colour
range at the turnoff point. Record the star class and the turnoff age range in
your data table. The globular cluster's age is equivalent to the turnoff age
range.

Repeat all steps for the other two globular clusters and compare the ages of all
three clusters.

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 CHAPTER 3: OBSERVATIONS

3.1. FINDING THE TURNOFF POINTS

For this project we collected the globular cluster data of three different
star clusters, namely NGC 2401, NGC 2420 and Pal 5. Hence we have to
plot the HR diagrams of all the three clusters and find their turn off
points.

3.1.1. CLUSTER NO.1: NGC 2401

Ra (in degrees): 114.59958

Dec in degrees): 21.57409

HR DIAGRAM:

TURNOFF POINT: 0.6

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3.1.2. CLUSTER NO.2: NGC 2420

Ra (in degrees): 112.35168

Dec in degrees): -13.96623

HR DIAGRAM:

TURNOFF POINT: 0.9

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 3.1.3. CLUSTER NO.3: PAL 5

Ra (in degrees): 229.02208

Dec in degrees): -0.11139

HR DIAGRAM:

TURNOFF POINT: 0.18

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 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
After plotting the H-R diagrams of the globular cluster NGC2401, NGC2420 and
PAL 5 we got the turnoff points to be 0.6, 0.9 and 0.18 respectively. On
comparing these turnoff values with those given in Table 1, we find the ages of
the globular cluster as follows.

CLUSTER NAME APPARENT COLOUR TURNOFF POINT AGE (approx.)

NGC 2401 ORANGE 0.6 15.6 billion years

NGC 2420 ORANGE 0.9 15.6 - 49.4 billion years

PAL 5 WHITE 0.18 2.3 – 5.1 billion years

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