Using ESA’s Gaia satellite and NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers from the Ege University in Turkey and elsewhere have observed a galactic open cluster known as NGC 2506. Results of the observational campaign, published October 7 on the arXiv pre-print server, put more constraints on the properties of this cluster.
In general, groups of stars formed from the same giant molecular cloud and loosely gravitationally bound to each other are known as open clusters (OCs). Inspecting galactic OCs in detail could be crucial for improving our understanding of the formation and evolution of our Milky Way galaxy.
NGC 2,506 is a mildly-elongated OC estimated to be located some 12,700 light years away, near the galactic anti-center. It is a well-populated, metal-poor, intermediate-age cluster with a radius of about 18.5 light years.