The Spokes Star Cluster in NGC2264. Brightness Variability of the Youngest Stars
Author:
Aaron ChewMentor:
Susan Terebey, Professor of Physics, California State University Los AngelesNGC 2264 is a well known star-forming region that is located 760 parsec from the Sun. The age of the star cluster is about 3 million years and roughly 1500 members of the star cluster have been identified to-date. Observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope reveal that a new burst of star-formation is taking place in a sub-region called the Spokes cluster. Young stars are known to have large brightness variations. In many cases these brightness variations appear to be related to variable streams of material that are accreting/hitting the surface of the young star. We report some new results from the Spitzer Space Telescope for brightness variations over a 30 day time sequence in the youngest stars in the Spokes cluster.