95-28367 Mateo, Mario Dr. Mateo will systematically search for and study eclipsing binaries in globular clusters. There are four goals of the project: (1) Measure the binary frequency in a wide range of cluster environments to determine how it varies with age, cluster concentration and metallicity. (2) Study the frequency of eclipsing binaries among blue stragglers in a number of clusters to distinguish between collisional vs. merger origin for blue stragglers. (3) Derive absolute cluster distances without intermediate steps. (4) Obtain masses of Pop II stars from radial velocity curves of both components to test the absolute age scale for globular clusters. The data for these studies will be based on a large scale photometric survey of globular clusters designed to search for eclipsing binaries with periods of less than 5-10 days. Follow up spectroscopic observations will be made on 4-m class telescopes. ***
