AAS 201st Meeting, January, 2003
Session 93. Star Formation II
Poster, Wednesday, January 8, 2003, 9:20am-6:30pm, Exhibit Hall AB

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[93.09] HST/NICMOS Observations of NGC 2024: The Emergent Mass Distribution and Stellar Multiplicity

W. M. Liu, M. R. Meyer, A. S. Cotera, E. T. Young (Steward Observatory, U. of Arizona)

We present an analysis of NICMOS observations of the embedded cluster NGC 2024. An analysis of the cluster color-magnitude diagram (CMD) using models of D'Antona & Mazzitelli (1998) and Baraffe et al. (1998) indicates that the ratio of intermediate mass (1.0 to 10.0 Msun) to low mass (0.1 to 1.0 Msun) stars is consistent with a field star IMF. We also present results on the multiplicity of stars in the region. Three companions (in a sample of 94 potential primaries) were found, with an angular separations between 0".4 and 1".0, translating to a projected linear separation of 184 AU to 460 AU for an estimated distance of 470 pc. The completeness of binary detections is assessed using recovery fractions calculated by a series of tests using artificially generated companions to potential primaries in the data frames. We find that the binary fraction is similar to that of Duquennoy & Mayor (1991) for solar-type stars over the range of separations and companion masses appropriate for our survey.


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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.