Standard Stars for the BYU H-a Photometric System (Abstract)

Volume 43 number 2 (2015)

Michael Joner

Brigham Young University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, N488 ESC, Provo, UT 84602; xxcygni@gmail.com

Eric Hintz

Brigham Young University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, N480 ESC, Provo, UT 84602; hintz@physics.byu.edu

Abstract

(Abstract only) We present primary standard stars for the Brigham Young University (BYU) H-alpha photometric system. This system is similar to the H-beta photometric system that is often used with the intermediate band uvby system. Both systems use the difference between magnitudes measured in a wide (15–20-nm) and narrow (3-nm) bandpass centered on one of the strong Balmer lines of hydrogen to establish a color index. Line indices formed in this manner are independent of atmospheric extinction and interstellar reddening. These indices provide intrinsic measures of effective temperature for stars with spectral types between B and G. The present primary standard stars for the BYU system is established using spectroscopic observations that cover the region between the H-alpha and H-beta lines. The indices were formed using synthetic photometry reductions to convolve ideal filter profiles with the observed spectra. The number of observations per star is generally in excess of 25. Some stars have been observed more than 100 times over a period of 7 years. The typical error per observation for these stars is on the order of 1–3 mmag. In addition to the standard field stars, we present H-alpha and H-beta observations of individual stars that are members of selected open clusters. These include the Hyades, Pleiades, Coma Berenices, and NGC 752 clusters. Additional stars that exhibit varying degrees of hydrogen emission are easily distinguished in a plot of the alpha-beta plane. We have found that candidates for emission line objects, high mass x-ray binaries, and young stellar objects are readily identified in our alpha-beta plots. We acknowledge continued support from the BYU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences as well as support from NSF Grant AST #0618209. We also thank the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory for continued allocation of robotic observing time for spectroscopy on the 1.2-m telescope.