Orion Nebula Cluster members VRI photometry

Such a prominent variability reflects in the inferred values of stellar colours and luminosities and, in turn, in the inferred stellar ages and masses. In this study, we measure the amplitudes of the photometric variability in V, R and I optical bands of a sample of 346 ONC members.

We use these measurements to investigate how this variability affects the inferred masses and ages and whether it alone can account for the age spread among ONC members reported by earlier studies. We make use of colour-magnitude and Hertzprung-Russell (HR) diagrams. We find that members that show periodic and smooth photometric rotational modulation have masses and ages that are unaffected by variability when theoretical isochrones and evolutionary mass tracks are used in either colour-magnitude or HR diagrams.