Week 1:  I researched NGC 6530 by looking through different papers that have been published on the cluster.  One of the papers examined many stars and determined the probability that each star considered, is a part of NGC 6530.  After examining those probabilities, I decided to use the stars with an 80% chance or greater probability of being a part of the star cluster.  This significantly reduced the number of stars down to 11.  From those 11, we compiled data about each of the stars, including their position in the sky and their magnitude.  I also familiarized myself with Mira Pro, which is the software that will be used to analyze the stars using aperture photometry.

Week 2:  I familiarized myself with Sigma Plot, which is the software that will be used to plot the data into the Serkowski curve.  Using previously collected data from HD 197770, I used the Mira Pro and Sigma Plot softwares to create a Serkowski curve from the data, to practice for when I analyze my data.  I prepared the polarimeter for the project by cleaning and then inserting the UBVRI filters into it.

Week 3:  After analysis of the weather, I found a good date to observe NGC 6530.  One 7 June, I observed NGC 6530 at the VMI Observatory.  The rest of the week was spend conducting aperture photometry to analyze the stars in the cluster and creating a Serkowski curve with the polarization data using the Mira Pro and Sigma Plot softwares.

Week 4: I analyzed more stars to get a total of seventeen stars analyzed.   I reanalyzed stars with poor fits, to see if the poor fit was because of the aperture that I had chosen.  I started to write my report in the latter half of the week.