SCYON Abstract

Received on October 30 2006

The Peculiar Main Sequence of the Double Star Cluster NGC 2011 in the Large Magellanic Cloud with Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 Observations

AuthorsD. A. Gouliermis (1), S. Lianou (2), M. Kontizas (2), E. Kontizas (3), and A. Dapergolas (3)
Affiliation
(1) Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Heidelberg, Germany
(2) University of Athens, Dpt of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, Greece
(3) National Observatory of Athens, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Greece
Accepted byAstrophysical Journal
Contactdgoulier@mpia.de
URLhttp://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0610653
Links

Abstract

We report the serendipitous discovery of a peculiar main sequence in archived Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 observations of the young star cluster NGC 2011 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The bright part of this main sequence exhibits a prominent double, fork-like feature, as if it consists of twin main sequences, one of them being redder. The color-magnitude diagram, constructed from the stars found in the only available WFPC2 field of the cluster, is used to distinguish the stars according to their membership to each of these sequences and to study their spatial distribution. We find that there are two well distinguished populations in the sense that the redder main sequence is dominated by stars that belong to the main body of the cluster, while the stars of the bluer main sequence belong to the surrounding region. Providing that NGC 2011 is a verified binary cluster, with the second companion unfortunately not observed, and taking into account the general region where this cluster is located, we discuss the possible scenarios from both star formation, and early dynamical evolution point-of-view that might explain this unique discovery.