THE COMPOSITION OF GALACTIC GLOBULAR CLUSTERS

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

" The Composition of Galactic Globular Clusters " AST- 0097955 In probing the early history of the Milky Way system, high weight is given to comparisons between the oldest stars that we can recognize and those that are being formed at the present time. The analysis is simplified when we can restrict attention to stars that have not yet evolved off the main sequence thereby contaminating their atmospheres with the products on nuclear burning. Good samples of ancient, unevolved stars can be found in globular clusters but they are faint and it is only with the availability of large ground-based instruments like the Keck 10m telescopes that we can study these stars in sufficient detail to make benchmark comparisons. During the course of this award the PI will take advantage of an opportunity to use the high-resolution spectroscopic capability of the Keck I telescope to obtain spectra of main sequence stars near the turnoff in several globular clusters among the halo population of the Milky Way. These spectra will be analyzed and chemical abundances determined with the long-term objective of putting quantitative constraints on the chemical evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy.