Messier 67

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Messier 67
M67 Mazur.jpg
Open cluster Messier 67 in Cancer
Observation data (J2000.0 epoch)
Right ascension 08h 51.3m
Declination +11° 49′
Distance ~2.61–2.93 kly (800–900 pc [1] [2] [3] [4] )
Apparent magnitude  (V)6.1
Apparent dimensions (V)30.0′
Physical characteristics
Radius10 ly [ citation needed ]
Estimated age3.2 to 5 billion years
Other designationsNGC 2682, Cr 204
Associations
Constellation Cancer
See also: Open cluster, List of open clusters

Messier 67 (also known as M67 or NGC 2682) and sometimes called the King Cobra Cluster or the Golden Eye Cluster [5] is an open cluster in the southern, equatorial half of Cancer. It was discovered by Johann Gottfried Koehler in 1779. Estimates of its age range between 3.2 and 5 billion years. Distance estimates are likewise varied, but typically are 800–900 parsecs (2,600–2,900 ly). [1] [2] [3] [4] Estimates of 855, 840, and 815 pc were established via binary star modelling and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Description

M67 is not the oldest known open cluster, but there are few Milky Way clusters known to be older, and none of those is closer than M67. It is a paradigm study object in stellar evolution: [6]

M67 is one of the most-studied open clusters, yet estimates of its physical parameters such as age, mass, and number of stars of a given type, vary substantially. Richer et al. estimate its age to be 4 billion years, its mass to be 1080  solar masses (M☉), and number its white dwarfs at 150. [7] Hurley et al. estimate its current mass to be 1,400 M☉ and its initial mass to be approximately 10 times as great. [8]

It has more than 100 stars similar to the Sun, and numerous red giants. The total star count has been estimated at well over 500. [9] The ages and prevalence of Sun-like stars had led some astronomers to theorize it as the possible parent cluster of the Sun. [10] However, computer simulations disagree on whether the outer Solar System would have survived an ejection from M67, [11] [12] and the cluster itself would probably not have survived such an ejection event. [13]

The cluster contains no main sequence stars bluer (hotter) than spectral type F, other than perhaps some of the blue stragglers, since the brighter stars of that age have already left the main sequence. In fact, when the stars of the cluster are plotted on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, there is a distinct "turn-off" representing the stars which have terminated hydrogen fusion in the core and are destined to become red giants. As a cluster ages, the turn-off moves progressively down the main sequence to cooler stars.

It appears that M67 has a bias toward heavier stars. One cause of this is mass segregation, the process by which lighter stars gain speed at the expense of more massive stars during close encounters, which moves them to greater average distance from the center of the cluster or allows escape altogether. [14]

A March 2016 joint AIP/JHU study by Barnes et al. on rotational periods of 20 Sun-like stars, measured by the effects of moving starspots on light curves, suggests that these approximately 4 billion-year old stars spin in about 26 days – like the Sun, which has a period at the equator of 25.38 days. [15] Measurements were carried out as part of the extended K2 mission of Kepler space telescope. This reinforces the applicability of many key properties of the sun to stars of the same size and age, a fundamental principle of modern solar and stellar physics. [16] The authors abbreviate this as the "solar-stellar connection". [16]

Planets

A radial velocity survey of M67 has found exoplanets around five stars in the cluster: YBP 1194, YBP 1514, YBP 401, Sand 978, and Sand 1429. [17] [18] [19] [20] A sixth star, Sand 364, was also thought to have a planet, but a follow-up study did not find evidence for it and concluded that the radial velocity variations have a non-planetary origin, likely stellar variability. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Ara is a southern constellation between Scorpius, Telescopium, Triangulum Australe, and Norma. It was one of the Greek bulk described by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations designated by the International Astronomical Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyades (star cluster)</span> Open cluster in the constellation Taurus

The Hyades is the nearest open cluster and one of the best-studied star clusters. Located about 153 light-years away from the Sun, it consists of a roughly spherical group of hundreds of stars sharing the same age, place of origin, chemical characteristics, and motion through space. From the perspective of observers on Earth, the Hyades Cluster appears in the constellation Taurus, where its brightest stars form a "V" shape along with the still-brighter Aldebaran. However, Aldebaran is unrelated to the Hyades, as it is located much closer to Earth and merely happens to lie along the same line of sight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wild Duck Cluster</span> Open cluster in the constellation Scutum

The Wild Duck Cluster is an open cluster of stars in the constellation Scutum. It was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681. Charles Messier included it in his catalogue of diffuse objects in 1764. Its popular name derives from the brighter stars forming a triangle which could resemble a flying flock of ducks. The cluster is located just to the east of the Scutum Star Cloud midpoint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 19</span> Globular cluster in Ophiuchus

Messier 19 or M19 is a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus. It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764 and added to his catalogue of comet-like objects that same year. It was resolved into individual stars by William Herschel in 1784. His son, John Herschel, described it as "a superb cluster resolvable into countless stars". The cluster is located 4.5° WSW of Theta Ophiuchi and is just visible as a fuzzy point of light using 50 mm (2.0 in) binoculars. Using a telescope with a 25.4 cm (10.0 in) aperture, the cluster shows an oval appearance with a 3′ × 4′ core and a 5′ × 7′ halo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 21</span> Open cluster in the constellation Sagittarius

Messier 21 or M21, also designated NGC 6531 or Webb's Cross, is an open cluster of stars located to the north-east of Sagittarius in the night sky, close to the Messier objects M20 to M25. It was discovered and catalogued by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764. This cluster is relatively young and tightly packed. A few blue giant stars have been identified in the cluster, but Messier 21 is composed mainly of small dim stars. With a magnitude of 6.5, M21 is not visible to the naked eye; however, with the smallest binoculars it can be easily spotted on a dark night. The cluster is positioned near the Trifid nebula, but is not associated with that nebulosity. It forms part of the Sagittarius OB1 association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 23</span> Open cluster in Sagittarius

Messier 23, also known as NGC 6494, is an open cluster of stars in the northwest of the southern constellation of Sagittarius. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. It can be found in good conditions with binoculars or a modestly sized telescope. It is in front of "an extensive gas and dust network", which there may be no inter-association. It is within 5° the sun's position so can be occulted by the moon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 26</span> Open cluster in the constellation Scutum

Messier 26, also known as NGC 6694, is an open cluster of stars in the southern constellation of Scutum. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. This 8th magnitude cluster is a challenge to find in ideal skies with typical binoculars, where it can be, with any modern minimum 3-inch (76 mm) aperture device. It is south-southwest of the open cluster Messier 11 and is 14′ across. About 25 stars are visible in a telescope with a 150–200 mm (6–8 in) aperture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 18</span> Open cluster in the constellation Sagittarius

Messier 18 or M18, also designated NGC 6613 and sometimes known as the Black Swan Cluster, is an open cluster of stars in the constellation Sagittarius. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764 and included in his list of comet-like objects. From the perspective of Earth, M18 is situated between the Omega Nebula (M17) and the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud (M24).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 37</span> Open cluster in the constellation Auriga

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar analog</span> Star that is particularly similar to the Sun

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Delta<sup>2</sup> Tauri Star in the constellation Taurus

Delta2 Tauri is a solitary, white-hued star in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 20.21 mas as seen from Earth, it is located roughly 161 light years distant from the Sun. It is separated from δ1 Tauri by 0.3° on the sky and is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +4.80. The star is considered a member of the Hyades cluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">53 Aquarii</span> Binary star in the constellation Aquarius

53 Aquarii is a binary star system in the equatorial constellation of Aquarius. 53 Aquarii is its Flamsteed designation though the star also bears the Bayer designation of f Aquarii. The combined apparent visual magnitude of the pair is a 5.56, making it just visible to the naked eye in dark suburban skies. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 49.50 milliarcseconds for the first component, this system is located at a distance of approximately 65 light-years from Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alpha Persei Cluster</span> Open cluster in the constellation Perseus

The Alpha Persei Cluster, also known as Melotte 20 or Collinder 39, is an open cluster of stars in the northern constellation of Perseus. To the naked eye, the cluster consists of several blue-hued spectral type B stars. The most luminous member is the ~2nd magnitude white-yellow supergiant Mirfak, also known as Alpha Persei. Bright members also include Delta, Sigma, Psi, 29, 30, 34, and 48 Persei. The Hipparcos satellite and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting have been used to establish a distance to the cluster of ~560 light-years (172 pc). The distance established via the independent analyses agree, thereby making the cluster an important rung on the cosmic distance ladder. As seen from the Earth, the extinction of the cluster due to interstellar dust is around 0.30.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V538 Aurigae</span> Star in constellation Auriga

V538 Aurigae is a single star in the northern constellation of Auriga. With an apparent visual magnitude of 6.23, this star requires good dark sky conditions to view with the naked eye. It is located at a distance of 40.0 light-years (12.3 pc) from Sun based on parallax. The star is drifting further away with a radial velocity of 0.9 km/s. It is a member of the Local Association, and is most likely a thin disk star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IC 4651</span> Open star cluster in the constellation Ara

IC 4651 is an open cluster of stars located about 2,900 light years distant in the constellation Ara. It was first catalogued by John Louis Emil Dreyer in his 1895 version of the Index Catalogue. This is an intermediate age cluster that is 1.2 ± 0.2 billion years old. Compared to the Sun, the members of this cluster have a higher abundance of the chemical elements other than hydrogen and helium. The combined mass of the active stars in this cluster is about 630 times the mass of the Sun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">29 Persei</span> Star in the constellation Perseus

29 Persei is a single star in the northern constellation of Perseus, located approximately 640 light years away from the Sun based on parallax. It is visible to the naked eye as faint, blue-white hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.16. This object is a member of the Alpha Persei Cluster.

YBP 1194 is a G-type main-sequence star, class G5V, in the open cluster Messier 67, about 2,890 light-years from the Sun in the constellation Cancer. It is a solar twin, having the near exact same temperature and mass as the Sun. YBP 1194 has a slightly higher metallicity than the Sun, and may be slightly younger at an age of 3.5-4.8 billion years. In January 2014, this star was announced to have an exoplanet. It is packed in a small cluster, Messier 67, with a radius of 10 light-years, with over 500 other stars. For comparison, the Sun has 9 star systems within 10 light-years and 94 star systems within 20 light-years.

References

  1. 1 2 Paunzen, E.; Mermilliod, J.-C. "WEBDA page for open cluster NGC 2682". WEBDA. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  2. 1 2 3 Sarajedini, Ata; Dotter, Aaron; Kirkpatrick, Allison (2009). "Deep 2MASS Photometry of M67 and Calibration of the Main-Sequence J - KS Color Difference as an Age Indicator". The Astrophysical Journal. 698 (2): 1872–1878. arXiv: 0904.2907 . Bibcode:2009ApJ...698.1872S. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/698/2/1872. S2CID   11654120.
  3. 1 2 3 Yakut, K.; Zima, W.; Kalomeni, B.; Van Winckel, H.; Waelkens, C.; De Cat, P.; Bauwens, E.; Vučković, M.; Saesen, S.; Le Guillou, L.; Parmaksızoğlu, M.; Uluç, K.; Khamitov, I.; Raskin, G.; Aerts, C. (2009). "Close binary and other variable stars in the solar-age Galactic open cluster M 67". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 503 (1): 165. arXiv: 0906.4908 . Bibcode:2009A&A...503..165Y. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200911918. S2CID   1136371.
  4. 1 2 3 Majaess, Daniel J.; Turner, David G.; Lane, David J.; Krajci, Tom (2011). "Deep Infrared ZAMS Fits to Benchmark Open Clusters Hosting delta Scuti Stars". Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (Jaavso). 39 (2): 219. arXiv: 1102.1705 . Bibcode:2011JAVSO..39..219M.
  5. ↑ Martina McGovern. "M67 Open cluster". British Astronomical Association . Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  6. ↑ Xiao-Bin Zhang; Rong-Xian Zhang & Zhi-Ping Li (2005). "S1280 and S1284: Two Oscillating Blue Stragglers in the Open Cluster M67". Chinese Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics . 5 (6): 579–586. Bibcode:2005ChJAA...5..579Z. doi: 10.1088/1009-9271/5/6/003 .
  7. ↑ Harvey B. Richer; Gregory G. Fahlman; Joanne Rosvick; Rodrigo Ibata (1998). "The White Dwarf Cooling Age of M67". The Astrophysical Journal . 504 (2): L91. arXiv: astro-ph/9806172 . Bibcode:1998ApJ...504L..91R. doi:10.1086/311586. S2CID   17309096.
  8. ↑ Jarrod R. Hurley; Onno R. Pols; Sverre J. Aarseth; Christopher A. Tout (2005). "A Complete N-body Model of the Old Open Cluster M67". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 363 (1): 293–314. arXiv: astro-ph/0507239 . Bibcode:2005MNRAS.363..293H. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09448.x. S2CID   17632739.
  9. ↑ W. L. Sanders (1977). "Membership of the open cluster M67". Astronomy & Astrophysics Supplement Series . 27: 89–116. Bibcode:1977A&AS...27...89S.
  10. ↑ "Did Our Solar System Originate in a Distant Star Cluster?". Daily Galaxy. 30 September 2014. Archived from the original on 10 May 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  11. ↑ Jørgensen, Timmi G; Church, Ross P (11 March 2020). "Stellar escapers from M67 can reach solar-like Galactic orbits". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 492 (4): 4959–4974. doi:10.1093/mnras/staa185.
  12. ↑ Pichardo, Bárbara; Moreno, Edmundo; Allen, Christine; Bedin, Luigi R.; Bellini, Andrea; Pasquini, Luca (February 2012). "The Sun was not born in M 67". The Astronomical Journal. 143 (3): 73. arXiv: 1201.0987 . Bibcode:2012AJ....143...73P. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/143/3/73. S2CID   119266159. article ID 73.
  13. ↑ Webb, Jeremy J; Price-Jones, Natalie; Bovy, Jo; Portegies Zwart, Simon; Hunt, Jason A S; Mackereth, J Ted; Leung, Henry W (11 May 2020). "Searching for solar siblings in APOGEE and Gaia DR2 with N-body simulations". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 494 (2): 2268–2279. doi:10.1093/mnras/staa788.
  14. ↑ Ch. Bonatto & E. Bica (2003). "Mass segregation in M67 with 2MASS" (PDF). Astronomy and Astrophysics . 405 (2): 525. Bibcode:2003A&A...405..525B. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361:20030205 .
  15. ↑ Sydney A. Barnes; Jörg Weingrill; Dario Fritzewski; Klaus G. Strassmeier; Imants Platais (2016). "Rotation periods for cool stars in the 4 Gyr-old open cluster M67, the solar-stellar connection, and the applicability of gyrochronology to at least solar age". The Astrophysical Journal . 823 (1): 16. arXiv: 1603.09179 . Bibcode:2016ApJ...823...16B. doi: 10.3847/0004-637X/823/1/16 . S2CID   89613927.
  16. 1 2 "Stars nearly as old as Sun found to have similar spin rates". Astronomy Now. 17 May 2016.
  17. ↑ Brucalassi, A.; Pasquini, L.; et al. (January 2014). "Three planetary companions around M 67 stars". Astronomy & Astrophysics . 561: L9. arXiv: 1401.4905 . Bibcode:2014A&A...561L...9B. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201322584.
  18. ↑ Brucalassi, A.; Pasquini, L.; et al. (July 2016). "Search for giant planets in M67. III. Excess of hot Jupiters in dense open clusters". Astronomy & Astrophysics . 592: L1. arXiv: 1606.05247 . Bibcode:2016A&A...592L...1B. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201527561.
  19. ↑ Brucalassi, A.; Koppenhoefer, J.; et al. (July 2017). "Search for giant planets in M 67. IV. Survey results". Astronomy & Astrophysics . 603: A85. arXiv: 1703.04296 . Bibcode:2017A&A...603A..85B. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201527562.
  20. ↑ Thomas, Luis; Saglia, Roberto; et al. (March 2024). "Search for giant planets in M67 V: a warm Jupiter orbiting the turn-off star S1429". Astronomy & Astrophysics . arXiv: 2403.02911 . doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202449233.
  21. ↑ Zhou, Qijia; Latham, David W.; et al. (October 2023). "False Planets around Giant Stars: A Case Study of Sanders 364 in M67". The Astronomical Journal . 166 (4): 160. Bibcode:2023AJ....166..160Z. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/acf291 .


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