P04: Galaxy Cluster Mosaic

Observing Goals:

You will observe a Galaxy Cluster and make a Mosaic by taking images at slightly different locations. Useful Background and References:

Observation Planning:

  • Observation Time

    • You will be observing HALF a night.

  • Target Selection

    • Find a large Galaxy Cluster that is above the horizon for the duration of the the observing night.

  • Observations

    • Read the “Creating a Mosaic” text under “Tools for observing”.

Data Analysis:

  • Data Reduction Basic Steps

    • Visit the page Data Reduction Cheat Sheet

    • Make Dark sky flats to remove vignetting.

    • Remove the sky background by choosing locations with no objects.

  • Further for this project

    • Create a Mosaic

    • Extract the sources from the Mosaic.

  • Further Analysis for this project

    • Try to find out if the galaxies are spirals or elipticals.

Results:

Can you answer these questions with your work?

  • Q1 Can you identify and quantify the stars and galaxies in your Mosaic?

  • Q2 What is the ratio of spirals to elipticals as a function of the number density of galaxies?

Presenting your results:

Files

p288176_4-16-2021_4-20-30.pdf