Tomasz Nowakowski is a member of the physics.org community.
Astronomers have investigated an open cluster using the AstroSat spaceship. More information about the properties of this cluster was provided by the study. The findings were published in August.
A group of stars are bound to each other by a giant cloud of atoms. More than a thousand of them have been found in the Milky Way, and scientists are still looking for more. Our understanding of the formation and evolution of our galaxy could be improved if we expanded the list of known open clusters.
At a distance of over 12,700 light years, NGC 2506 is an intermediate age OC. Not much is known about the stellar content of this cluster. The lower mass members of the group are more likely to be in the outer parts of the cluster.
Anju Panthi of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, is the leader of the team that made multi-wavelength observations of this cluster.
The researchers used archival data and AstroSat data to study an intermediate-age open cluster.
The study identified 2,175 members of the group. Nine blue straggler stars, three yellow straggler stars, and three red clump stars were detected.
The astronomer found hot companions to three BSS, two YSS and three RC stars. The objects are white dwarfs with a mass from 0.2 to 0.8 solar mass and an effective temperature between 13,750 and 31,000 K.
The temperatures of BSS stars vary from 7,750 to 9,750 K, which is consistent with the age of the cluster. The YSS stars have a temperature between 6,500 and 6,750 K, while the RC stars have a temperature between 5,000 and 5,250 K.
The results suggest that at least 40% of BSS and YSS systems are likely to be caused by mass transfer in a binaries system mechanism. They don't exclude a merger in triple system.
More information: Anju Panthi et al, UOCS –VIII. UV Study of the open cluster NGC 2506 using ASTROSAT, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2022). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac2421 Journal information: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietyThere is a science network.
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