NGC 5385, NGC 2664 and Collinder 21: three candidate Open Cluster Remnants
Abstract
We present CCD UBVI photometric and medium/high resolution spectroscopic observations obtained in the field of the previously unstudied dissolving open cluster candidates NGC 5385, NGC 2664 and Collinder~21. Our analysis stands on the discussion of star counts, photometry, radial velocity distribution, and proper motions available from the Tycho~2 catalogue. All the three aggregates clearly emerge from the mean Galactic field, but, regrettably, the close scrutiny of proper motions and radial velocities reveals that we are not facing any physical group. Instead, what we are looking at are just chance alignments of a few bright unrelated stars. Our analysis casts some doubt on the Bica et al. (2001) criterion to look for Possible Open Cluster Remnants. It seems mandatory to define a better criterion to adopt for further investigations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0407605,
title = {NGC 5385, NGC 2664 and Collinder 21: three candidate Open Cluster Remnants},
author = {Sandro Villanova and Giovanni Carraro and Raul de la Fuente Marcos and Ruggero Stagni},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0407605},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
12 pages, 12 eps figures (7, 9 and 11 degraded in resolution), accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics