No Arabic abstract
Berkeley 59 is a nearby ($sim$1 kpc) young cluster associated with the Sh2-171 H{sc ii} region. We present deep optical observations of the central $sim$2.5$times$2.5 pc$^2$ area of the cluster, obtained with the 3.58-m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. The $V$/($V$-$I$) color-magnitude diagram manifests a clear pre-main-sequence (PMS) population down to $sim$ 0.2 M$_odot$. Using the near-infrared and optical colors of the low-mass PMS members we derive a global extinction of A$_V$= 4 mag and a mean age of $sim$ 1.8 Myr, respectively, for the cluster. We constructed the initial mass function and found that its global slopes in the mass ranges of 0.2 - 28 M$_odot$ and 0.2 - 1.5 M$_odot$ are -1.33 and -1.23, respectively, in good agreement with the Salpeter value in the solar neighborhood. We looked for the radial variation of the mass function and found that the slope is flatter in the inner region than in the outer region, indicating mass segregation. The dynamical status of the cluster suggests that the mass segregation is likely primordial. The age distribution of the PMS sources reveals that the younger sources appear to concentrate close to the inner region compared to the outer region of the cluster, a phenomenon possibly linked to the time evolution of star-forming clouds is discussed. Within the observed area, we derive a total mass of $sim$ 10$^3$ M$_odot$ for the cluster. Comparing the properties of Berkeley 59 with other young clusters, we suggest it resembles more to the Trapezium cluster.
We present time-series photometry of stars located in the extremely young open cluster Berkeley 59. Using the 1.04 m telescope at ARIES, Nainital, we have identified 42 variables in a field of 13x13 around the cluster. The probable members of the cluster are identified using (V, V-I) colour-magnitude diagram and (J-H, H-K) colour-colour diagram. Thirty one variables are found to be pre-main sequence stars associated with the cluster. The ages and masses of pre-main sequence stars are derived from colour-magnitude diagram by fitting theoretical models to the observed data points. The ages of the majority of the probable pre-main sequence variable candidates range from 1 to 5 Myrs. The masses of these pre-main sequence variable stars are found to be in the range of ~0.3 to ~3.5 Msun and these could be T Tauri stars. The present statistics reveal that about 90% T Tauri stars have periods < 15 days. The classical T Tauri stars are found to have larger amplitude in comparison to the weak line T Tauri stars. There is an indication that the amplitude decreases with increase of the mass, which could be due to the dispersal of disk of relatively massive stars.
We present $UBVI_C$ CCD photometry of the young open cluster Be 59 with the aim to study the star formation scenario in the cluster. The radial extent of the cluster is found to be $sim$ 10 arcmin (2.9 pc). The interstellar extinction in the cluster region varies between $E(B-V) simeq$ 1.4 to 1.8 mag. The ratio of total-to-selective extinction in the cluster region is estimated as $3.7pm0.3$. The distance of the cluster is found to be $1.00pm0.05$ kpc. Using near-infrared colours and slitless spectroscopy, we have identified young stellar objects (YSOs) in the open cluster Be 59 region. The ages of these YSOs range between $<1$ Myr to $sim$ 2 Myr, whereas the mean age of the massive stars in the cluster region is found to be $sim$ 2 Myr. There is evidence for second generation star formation outside the boundary of the cluster, which may be triggered by massive stars in the cluster. The slope of the initial mass function, $Gamma$, in the mass range $2.5 < M/M_odot le 28$ is found to be $-1.01pm0.11$ which is shallower than the Salpeter value (-1.35), whereas in the mass range $1.5 < M/M_odot le 2.5$ the slope is almost flat. The slope of the K-band luminosity function is estimated as $0.27pm0.02$, which is smaller than the average value ($sim$0.4) reported for young embedded clusters. Approximately 32% of H$alpha$ emission stars of Be 59 exhibit NIR excess indicating that inner disks of the T-Tauri star (TTS) population have not dissipated. The MSX and IRAS-HIRES images around the cluster region are also used to study the emission from unidentified infrared bands and to estimate the spatial distribution of optical depth of warm and cold interstellar dust.
As part of a wider investigation of evolved massive stars in Galactic open clusters, we have spectroscopically identified three candidate classical Cepheids in the little-studied clusters Berkeley 51, Berkeley 55 and NGC 6603. Using new multi-epoch photometry, we confirm that Be 51 #162 and Be 55 #107 are bona fide Cepheids, with pulsation periods of 9.83+/-0.01 d and 5.850+/-0.005 d respectively, while NGC 6603 star W2249 does not show significant photometric variability. Using the period-luminosity relationship for Cepheid variables, we determine a distance to Be 51 of 5.3(+1.0,-0.8) kpc and an age of 44(+9,-8) Myr, placing it in a sparsely-attested region of the Perseus arm. For Be 55, we find a distance of 2.2+/-0.3 kpc and age of 63(+12,-11) Myr, locating the cluster in the Local arm. Taken together with our recent discovery of a long-period Cepheid in the starburst cluster VdBH222, these represent an important increase in the number of young, massive Cepheids known in Galactic open clusters. We also consider new Gaia (data release 2) parallaxes and proper motions for members of Be 51 and Be 55; the uncertainties on the parallaxes do not allow us to refine our distance estimates to these clusters, but the well-constrained proper motion measurements furnish further confirmation of cluster membership. However, future final Gaia parallaxes for such objects should provide valuable independent distance measurements, improving the calibration of the period-luminosity relationship, with implications for the distance ladder out to cosmological scales.
We present multiwavelength optical linear polarimetric observations of 69 stars toward the young open cluster Be 59. The observations reveal the presence of three dust layers located at the distances of sim300, sim500 and sim700 pc. The dust layers produce a total polarization Pv sim 5.5 per cent. The mean values of polarization and polarization angles due to the dust layers are found to increase systematically with distance. We show that polarimetry in combination with the (U - B) - (B - V) colour-colour diagram yields a better identification of cluster members. The polarization measurements suggest that the polarization due the intra-cluster medium is sim 2.2 per cent. An anomalous reddening law exists for the cluster region, indicating a relatively larger grain size than that in the diffuse ISM. The spatial variation of the polarization and E(B - V) is found to increase with radial distance from the cluster center, whereas the {theta}v and {lambda}max are found to decrease with increasing radial distance from the cluster center. About 40 per cent of cluster members show the signatures of either intrinsic polarization or rotation in their polarization angles. There is an indication that the star light of the cluster members might have been depolarized because of non-uniform alignment of dust grains in the foreground dust layers and in the intra-cluster medium.
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.