(ORDO NEWS) — Using the 3.6-meter Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT), Indian astronomers have made detailed observations of the Teutsch 76 cluster.
Open clusters (OCs) are groups of stars that are loosely connected to each other and formed from a single giant molecular cloud. So far, more than 1,000 such clusters have been discovered in the Milky Way.
Teutsch 76 (or T76 for short) is a little-studied galactic object located in the eastern part of the region of ionized atomic hydrogen (HII region) Sh 2-141. It is estimated to be located about 24,500 light-years from us.
Recently, a team of astronomers from the Aryabhatta Research Institute for Observational Sciences (ARIES) in India observed T76 using DOT to get more information about the cluster’s properties.
The study was complemented by data from the ESA Gaia satellite and the Pan-STARRS1 survey.
The study found that T76 has a radius of approximately 4.04 light years and is estimated to be 50 million years old. Observations show that the cluster is located approximately 18,600 light years from Earth.
The results indicate that T76 exhibits a central density concentration with a ring morphology, most likely due to star formation processes.
Astronomers noted that the cluster is still in the process of dynamic evolution and shows no signs of mass segregation.
In general, the distribution of stars in T76 may be similar to the distribution found in the vicinity of the Sun.
The researchers identified 28 stars within the resulting T76 radius that are 80% likely to be members of the cluster.
The scientists added that there may be a possibility of finding young stars with excess infrared emission in T76, given that the cluster appears to be associated with the HII region.
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