A Binary-Based Reassessment of the Age and Stellar Properties of NGC 7789 Using Twelve Binary Components
Abstract
We present a binary-based reassessment of the age of the intermediate-age open cluster NGC 7789, together with well-constrained stellar parameters for twelve components in six SB2 systems, including two eclipsing binaries. Our analysis employs a unified modelling framework that combines radial-velocity orbits, TESS light curves, and blue-to-IR spectral energy distributions (SEDs), providing a robust alternative to traditional isochrone-based age determinations. By adopting common cluster-wide parameters (age, distance, and line-of-sight extinction) when solving for the stellar parameters of the binary components, we obtain a coherent set of masses, radii, effective temperatures, and luminosities for all twelve stars. The combined SED, eclipsing-binary, and radial-velocity analysis yields a well-constrained cluster age of Gyr and an extinction of mag, while remaining consistent with the Gaia DR3 distance of kpc used as an external prior. An independent Gaia DR3 astrometric analysis gives a distance of pc and confirms the membership of all six systems. The twelve binary components occupy the turnoff and subgiant regions of the cluster, enabling stringent evolutionary tests: in the radius--mass, radius--temperature, and temperature--mass diagrams, they show excellent agreement with modern stellar evolution models for the derived cluster parameters. NGC 7789 thus serves as a valuable benchmark for multi-observable, binary-based age determinations in open cluster studies.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2601.16265,
title = {A Binary-Based Reassessment of the Age and Stellar Properties of NGC 7789 Using Twelve Binary Components},
author = {Kadri Yakut and Belinda Kalomeni and Saul Rappaport},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.16265},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
11 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables, Accepted for publication in MNRAS