SCYON Abstract

Received on November 10 2001

NGC 2362: a Template for Early Stellar Evolution

AuthorsA. Moitinho(1), J. Alves(2), N. Huélamo(3), C.J. Lada(4)
Affiliation(1) Observatorio Astronómico Nacional, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 877, C.P. 22800, Ensenada B.C., México,
(2) European Southern Observatory, Karl Schwarzschild Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany,
(3) Max-Planck für Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, D-85741 Garching, Germany,
(4) Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics,Mail Stop 72, Cambridge, MA 02138
Accepted by
Contactandrem@astrosen.unam.mx
URLhttp://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0111106
Links NGC 2362

Abstract

We present UBVRI photometry for the young open cluster NGC 2362. From analysis of the appropriate color-color and color-magnitude diagrams we derive the fundamental parameters of the NGC 2362 cluster to be: age = 5+1-2 Myr, distance = 1480 pc, E(B-V)= 0.10 mag. The cluster age was independently determined for both high mass (2.1 - 36 MO) and low mass (0.7 - 1.2 MO) stars with excellent agreement between the ages derived using post-main sequence (Girardi et al. 2000, A&AS, 141, 371) and pre-main sequence (Baraffe et al. 1998, A&A, 337, 403) evolutionary tracks for the high and low mass stars respectively. Analysis of this cluster's color-magnitude diagram reveals a well defined pre-main sequence (covering Delta V ~9 magnitudes in V and extending from early A stars to near the hydrogen burning limit) which makes this cluster an ideal laboratory for pre-main sequence evolution studies.