Photometry of a galactic field at l = 232°. b = -6°: The old open cluster Auner 1, The Norma-Cygnus spiral arm, and the signature of the warped galactic thick disk

We perform a detailed photometric study of the stellar populations in a Galactic field at l = 232°, b = -6° in the Canis Major (CMa) constellation. We present the first U, B, V, I photometry of the old open cluster Auner 1 and determine it to be ≈3.25 Gyr old and to lie 8.9 kpc from the Sun. In the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Carraro, Giovanni, Moitinho, André, Zoccali, Manuela, Vázquez, Rubén Ángel, Baume, Gustavo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2007
País:Argentina
Institución:Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Repositorio:SEDICI (UNLP)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/83126
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/83126
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Ciencias Astronómicas
Galaxy: general
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
Open clusters and associations: general
Open clusters and associations: individual (Auner 1)
Descripción
Sumario:We perform a detailed photometric study of the stellar populations in a Galactic field at l = 232°, b = -6° in the Canis Major (CMa) constellation. We present the first U, B, V, I photometry of the old open cluster Auner 1 and determine it to be ≈3.25 Gyr old and to lie 8.9 kpc from the Sun. In the background of the cluster, at more than 9 kpc, we detect a young population most likely associated with the Norma-Cygnus spiral arm. Furthermore, we detect the signature of an older population and identify its turnoff and red giant branch. This population is found to have a mean age of 7 Gyr and a mean metallicity of Z = 0.006. We reconstruct the geometry of the stellar distribution and argue that this older population, often associated with the CMa "galaxy," in fact belongs to the warped old thin- and thick-disk components along this line of sight.