A Multiband Photometric Study of RR Lyrae Stars in M53 (NGC 5024)
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866917187965419520 |
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| author | Gaur, Shantanu A. Kumar, Nitesh Bhardwaj, Anupam Raturi, Aasheesh |
| author_facet | Gaur, Shantanu A. Kumar, Nitesh Bhardwaj, Anupam Raturi, Aasheesh |
| contents | We present a multiband (UBVRI) time-series photometric study of RR Lyrae (RRL) stars in the globular cluster Messier 53 (NGC 5024) to refine their pulsation properties and determine a precise cluster distance. The archival photometric data includes images taken over 22 years and 3 months using different optical telescopes, providing an excellent time baseline to investigate light curves of variable stars. Using Lomb-Scargle periodogram, we derived accurate periods for 29 fundamental-mode (RRab) and 35 first-overtone (RRc) RRLs. Template-fitting to phase-folded light curves provided robust mean magnitudes and amplitudes. The refined periods confirm M53 as an Oosterhoff II cluster, with a mean period of 0.649 days for RRab and 0.346 days for RRc, and a high RRc fraction (54.7\%). Most RRLs align with the horizontal branch in the color-magnitude diagram, while a few outliers result from blending effects. Period-amplitude diagrams show RRab stars following the Oosterhoff II locus. We derived I-band period-luminosity and multi-band period-Wesenheit relations, comparing them with theoretical predictions. A weighted mean distance modulus of 16.242 $\pm$ 0.05 mag yields a cluster distance of 17.717 $\pm$ 0.408 kpc, in agreement with recent estimates based on parallaxes from Gaia data. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_03758 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A Multiband Photometric Study of RR Lyrae Stars in M53 (NGC 5024) Gaur, Shantanu A. Kumar, Nitesh Bhardwaj, Anupam Raturi, Aasheesh Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies We present a multiband (UBVRI) time-series photometric study of RR Lyrae (RRL) stars in the globular cluster Messier 53 (NGC 5024) to refine their pulsation properties and determine a precise cluster distance. The archival photometric data includes images taken over 22 years and 3 months using different optical telescopes, providing an excellent time baseline to investigate light curves of variable stars. Using Lomb-Scargle periodogram, we derived accurate periods for 29 fundamental-mode (RRab) and 35 first-overtone (RRc) RRLs. Template-fitting to phase-folded light curves provided robust mean magnitudes and amplitudes. The refined periods confirm M53 as an Oosterhoff II cluster, with a mean period of 0.649 days for RRab and 0.346 days for RRc, and a high RRc fraction (54.7\%). Most RRLs align with the horizontal branch in the color-magnitude diagram, while a few outliers result from blending effects. Period-amplitude diagrams show RRab stars following the Oosterhoff II locus. We derived I-band period-luminosity and multi-band period-Wesenheit relations, comparing them with theoretical predictions. A weighted mean distance modulus of 16.242 $\pm$ 0.05 mag yields a cluster distance of 17.717 $\pm$ 0.408 kpc, in agreement with recent estimates based on parallaxes from Gaia data. |
| title | A Multiband Photometric Study of RR Lyrae Stars in M53 (NGC 5024) |
| topic | Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.03758 |