Disintegration of the Aged Open Cluster Berkeley 17

Abstract

We present the analysis of the morphological shape of Berkeley 17, the oldest known open cluster (~10 Gyr), using a probabilistic star counting of Pan-STARRS point sources, and confirm its core-tail shape, plus an antitail, previously detected with the 2MASS data. The stellar population, as diagnosed by the color-magnitude diagram and theoretical isochrones, shows many massive members in the cluster core, whereas there is a paucity of such members in both tails. This manifests mass segregation in this aged star cluster with the low-mass members being stripped away from the system. It has been claimed that Berkeley 17 is associated with an excessive number of blue straggler candidates. Comparison of nearby reference fields indicates that about half of these may be field contamination.

7 pages, 6 figures, Accepted in The Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (4)

• Improving PARSEC models for very low mass stars
• Old open clusters in the outer Galactic disk
• BVI photometry of the very old open cluster Berkeley 17
• Radial Velocities of Three Poorly Studied Clusters and the Kinematics of Open Clusters

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• A $Gaia$ EDR3 search for tidal tails in disintegrating open clusters
• Characterization of Stellar and Substellar Members in the Coma Berenices Star Cluster
• Determination of dynamical ages of open clusters through the A${}^{+}$ parameter -- I
• Deciphering Star Cluster Evolution by Shape Morphology
• The blue straggler population of the old open cluster Berkeley 17
• Discovery of double BSS sequences in the old Galactic open cluster Berkeley 17
• One of Everything: The Breakthrough Listen Exotica Catalog