NGC 411

NGC 411 is an open cluster located approximately 55,000 pc (180,000 ly) in the constellation Tucana. It was discovered in 1826 by James Dunlop. It was described by Dreyer as "extremely faint, pretty large, round, gradually very little brighter middle."[4] At a distance of about 180,000 light years (55,000 parsecs), it is located within the Small Magellanic Cloud.[2]

NGC 411
Hubble image of the open cluster NGC 411
Credit: NASA/ESA
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationTucana
Right ascension01h 07m 55.95s[1]
Declination−71° 46′ 04.5″[1]
Distance179,000 ± 13,000 ly (55,000 ± 4,000 pc)[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)12.1[1]
Apparent dimensions (V)2.1′ × 1.9′[1]
Physical characteristics
Estimated age1.5 billion years[3]
Other designationsKron 60, Lindsay 82, ESO 51-19[1]

NGC 411 was imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2013, showing an abundance of stars ranging from blue to red.[5] In particular, this seemed to suggest that the cluster was much younger than previously thought: its age has been estimated at about 1.5 billion years old, relatively young in astronomical terms.[3][5] However, these results have been challenged by another group who state that these young stars may actually just be background stars, and are thus physically unrelated.[6]

References
  1. "NGC 411". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  2. "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for NGC 0411. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  3. Li, C.; de Grijs, R.; Bastian, N.; Deng, L.; Niederhofer, F.; Zhang, C. (2016). "The tight subgiant branch of the intermediate-age star cluster NGC 411 implies a single-aged stellar population". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 461 (3): 3212–3221. arXiv:1606.05394. Bibcode:2016MNRAS.461.3212L. doi:10.1093/mnras/stw1491.
  4. "New General Catalog Objects: NGC 400 - 449". Cseligman. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  5. "Hubble Finds Appearances can be Deceptive". www.nasa.gov. 2013.
  6. Cabrera-Ziri, I.; et al. (2016). "No evidence for younger stellar generations within the intermediate-age massive clusters NGC 1783, NGC 1806 and NGC 411". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 459 (4): 4218–4223. arXiv:1604.06106. Bibcode:2016MNRAS.459.4218C. doi:10.1093/mnras/stw966.
  • Media related to NGC 411 at Wikimedia Commons
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