NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2001A-0302
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2001A-0302 |
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PI: Karl E. Haisch Jr., NASA Ames Research Center, haisch@astro.ufl.edu
Address: MS 245-6, Moffett Field, California 94035-1000, U.S.A.
CoI: Elizabeth Lada, University of Florida
CoI: Charles J. Lada, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
CoI: Joanna Levine, University of Florida
Title: Circumstellar Disks in the NGC 2264 Cluster
Abstract: We propose to use SQIID at the KPNO 2.1 m to obtain \it JHKL images of ~ 800 arcmin^2 in the NGC 2264 cluster (mean age ~ 3 Myr). We have shown that the combination of \it JHKL imaging photometry is capable of detecting all of the circumstellar disks around young stars. Our proposed SQIID observations are critical for our overall program to determine the frequency and lifetimes of circumstellar disks in young stellar clusters, the preferred sites of star formation in our Galaxy. The main goals of these proposed observations are to determine the circumstellar disk fraction of all stars in NGC 2264, and to test if the lifetimes of circumstellar disks are a function of stellar mass. Combined with our previous cluster studies, our proposed observations will provide the \bf first comprehensive and statistically significant census of the frequency distributions of disks in cluster environments, and will allow an examination of the overall ubiquity of planetary! formation in the Galaxy.
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726, Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2001A-0302 |
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