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Article
The White Dwarf Cooling Age of the Open Cluster NGC 2420
The Astronomical Journal
  • Ted von Hippel, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
  • Gerard Gilmore, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge
Submitting Campus
Daytona Beach
Department
Physical Sciences
Document Type
Article
Publication/Presentation Date
9-1-2000
Abstract/Description

We have used deep HST WFPC2 observations of two fields in NGC 2420 to produce a cluster color-magnitude diagram down to V ≈ 27. After imposing morphological selection criteria we find eight candidate white dwarfs in NGC 2420. Our completeness estimates indicate that we have found the terminus of the WD cooling sequence. We argue that the cluster distance modulus is likely to be close to 12.10 with E(B-V) = 0.04. With these parameters we find a white dwarf cooling age for NGC 2420 of 2.0 ± 0.20 (1 σ) Gyr. The 0.20 Gyr uncertainty includes errors in the photometry, sequence fitting, precursor timescales, and theoretical white dwarf cooling timescales. Comparing the cluster white dwarf cooling age to ages derived from stellar isochrone fitting we find a preference for ages derived from models incorporating convective overshoot.

Publisher
Institute of Physics Publishing, Inc.
Citation Information
Ted von Hippel and Gerard Gilmore. "The White Dwarf Cooling Age of the Open Cluster NGC 2420" The Astronomical Journal Vol. 120 Iss. 3 (2000) p. 1384 - 1395
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ted-vonhippel/100/