- #1
rikpotts
- 2
- 0
Hi,
Im sorry to make my first post a question but I am going mad trying to sort my problem. I've looked in all kinds of places for my answer but it never seem so to be there.
Im in my 3rd year of an OU Physics degree, and currently writing up a report on some observations I made of star clusters in mallorca.
Ive got to a point where I am throwing apparent magnitude, absolute magnitude and interstellar extinction into an equation giving the distance in parsecs.
My absolute mag and interstellar extinction is of fixed value but my apparent mag has an uncertainty associated with a reading from a chart.
How do I calculate the uncertainty of the distance to the clusters?
ie my apparent mag is 13+- 1. Do I Calculate d/pc for mag = 12, 13 and 14 and go from there... or is there another way.
I know somewhere in all my books and notes will be a one line answer to this but I cannot find it anywhere. All my uncertainty notes go on about standard deviation. standard error, combining uncertainties etc...
Please help! I've got this report, 1 textbook to read and 2 exams all in the next 3 weeks!
Many Thanks
Rik
Im sorry to make my first post a question but I am going mad trying to sort my problem. I've looked in all kinds of places for my answer but it never seem so to be there.
Im in my 3rd year of an OU Physics degree, and currently writing up a report on some observations I made of star clusters in mallorca.
Ive got to a point where I am throwing apparent magnitude, absolute magnitude and interstellar extinction into an equation giving the distance in parsecs.
My absolute mag and interstellar extinction is of fixed value but my apparent mag has an uncertainty associated with a reading from a chart.
How do I calculate the uncertainty of the distance to the clusters?
ie my apparent mag is 13+- 1. Do I Calculate d/pc for mag = 12, 13 and 14 and go from there... or is there another way.
I know somewhere in all my books and notes will be a one line answer to this but I cannot find it anywhere. All my uncertainty notes go on about standard deviation. standard error, combining uncertainties etc...
Please help! I've got this report, 1 textbook to read and 2 exams all in the next 3 weeks!
Many Thanks
Rik