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Oxford University Press, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2(376), p. 580-598, 2007

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.11327.x

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The Keele-Exeter young cluster survey: I. Low mass pre-main sequence stars in NGC 2169

Journal article published in 2006 by Rd D. Jeffries, Jm M. Oliveira, Tim Naylor, Nj J. Mayne, Sp P. Littlefair ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Abstract We have used RCIC CCD photometry from the Isaac Newton telescope and intermediate-resolution spectroscopy from the Gemini North telescope to identify and characterize low-mass (0.15 < M/M⊙ < 1.3) pre-main-sequence stars in the young open cluster NGC 2169. Isochrone fitting to the high- and low-mass populations yields an intrinsic distance modulus of 10.13+0.06−0.09 mag and a model-dependent age of 9 ± 2 Myr. Compared to the nearby, kinematically defined groups of a similar age, NGC 2169 has a large low-mass population which potentially offers a more precise statistical investigation of several aspects of star formation and early stellar evolution. By modelling the distribution of low-mass stars in the IC versus RC−IC diagram, we find that any age spread among cluster members has a Gaussian full width at half-maximum (FWHM) ≤ 2.5 Myr. A young age and a small age spread (<10 Myr) are supported by the lack of significant lithium depletion in the vast majority of cluster members. There is no clear evidence for accretion or warm circumstellar dust in the low-mass members of NGC 2169, bolstering the idea that strong accretion has ceased and inner discs have dispersed in almost all low-mass stars by ages of 10 Myr.