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J. A. Maley, W. Herbst (Wesleyan U.)
The extremely young cluster IC 348 has been monitored with a CCD attached to the 0.6m telescope at Van Vleck Observatory on the campus of Wesleyan University during the 1998/1999 observing season. The size of the field is 10.2 arc-minutes square, the exposures are of 5 minute duration through a Cousins I filter and reach a limit for accurate photometry of about I = 16. We have more than 65 images of the cluster taken on about 30 separate nights during the interval 1998 December to 1999 March. Approximately 150 stars are present in our images and differential photometry has been performed relative to a set of stable comparison stars. The purpose of the program is to determine rotation periods for spotted stars and to identify large amplitude variations characteristic of classical (accreting) T Tauri stars. This should complement the comprehensive spectroscopic and photometric study of the cluster by Herbig (1998, ApJ 497, 736) and allow us to test the hypothesis that disks are involved in controlling the rotational evolution of pre-main sequence stars. This work was supported by a NASA grant from the Origins of Solar Systems program.
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