The swift UVOT stars survey. I. Methods and test clusters

Journal Article · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 2014 · Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/148/6/131· OSTI ID:22342195

Siegel, Michael H.; Porterfield, Blair L.; Linevsky, Jacquelyn S.; Bond, Howard E.; Hoversten, Erik A.; Berrier, Joshua L.; Gronwall, Caryl A. ^[1]; Holland, Stephen T. ^[2]; Breeveld, Alice A. ^[3]

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1. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
2. Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
3. Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT (United Kingdom)

We describe the motivations and background of a large survey of nearby stellar populations using the Ultraviolet Optical Telescope (UVOT) on board the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission. UVOT, with its wide field, near-UV sensitivity, and 2.″3 spatial resolution, is uniquely suited to studying nearby stellar populations and providing insight into the near-UV properties of hot stars and the contribution of those stars to the integrated light of more distant stellar populations. We review the state of UV stellar photometry, outline the survey, and address problems specific to wide- and crowded-field UVOT photometry. We present color–magnitude diagrams of the nearby open clusters M67, NGC 188, and NGC 2539, and the globular cluster M79. We demonstrate that UVOT can easily discern the young- and intermediate-age main sequences, blue stragglers, and hot white dwarfs, producing results consistent with previous studies. We also find that it characterizes the blue horizontal branch of M79 and easily identifies a known post-asymptotic giant branch star.

• OSTI ID: 22342195
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Journal Name: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online) Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 148; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASYMPTOTIC SOLUTIONS
COLOR
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
GIANT STARS
PHOTOMETRY
SENSITIVITY
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
TELESCOPES
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
VISIBLE RADIATION
WHITE DWARF STARS