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A. Urban, M. R. Meyer (Steward Obs., U. of Arizona), G. H. Herbig, S. Dahm (IfA, U. of Hawaii)
What is the richness of the stellar aggregate associated with the reflection nebula, NGC7023 and what is its star formation history? NGC7023 is located in the Cepheus Flare Region and numerous studies have been conducted on the properties of its nebulosity. However, there has been little investigation into the properties of its stars. HD200775 is the brightest star in NGC7023 and it is classified as a Herbig Be star, an intermediate mass analogue of solar-type pre-main sequence T Tauri stars. By sampling the full stellar population, the sequence of star formation and distribution of stellar masses can be investigated. To understand these properties, regions in and around NGC7023 were sampled for stars with H alpha emission, a reliable method of identifying active young stars. For five fields around NGC7023, 7.5 square arcminutes each, photometry was obtained in BVRI. Point spread function fitting was used in order to look for blended or binary stars. Color-magnitude diagrams were created and compared with pre-main sequence tracks to determine the age of the aggregate. With the knowledge of the distance, extinction, and age, the distribution of the H alpha emission stars can be compared with the distribution of the other members in the aggregate associated with NGC7023.
This research project was supported by the NSF REU program.