NGC 2516 (also known as Caldwell 96) is an open star cluster in the southern sky in the constellation Carina discovered by Abbe Lacaille in 1751-1752.[1] It is also called Southern Beehive[2][3] or the Sprinter.[4][5]
| NGC 2516 | |
|---|---|
 NGC 2516 | |
| Observation data (J2000.0 epoch) | |
| Right ascension | 07h 58m 20s |
| Declination | −60° 52′ |
| Distance | 1.3 kly |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 3.8 |
| Apparent dimensions (V) | 30.0′ |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Mass | 105 to 106[citation needed] M☉ |
| Other designations | NGC 2516, Caldwell 96, Cr 172 |
| Associations | |
| Constellation | Carina |
Description
This bright cluster itself is easily visible with the naked eye as a hazy patch, but is resolvable into stars using binoculars. It contains two 5th magnitude red giant stars and three main visual double stars: HJ 4027, HJ 4031 and I 29. A small telescope would be required to split the double stars, which are all pairs of 8-9 magnitude and 1-10 arcseconds separation.[6]
NGC 2516 and the recently discovered nearby star cluster Mamajek 2 in Ophiuchus have similar age and metallicity. Recently, kinematic evidence was presented by E. Jilinski and coauthors that suggests that these two stellar groups may have formed in the same star-forming complex some 135 million years ago.[7]
The cluster is surrounded by the 500-parsec diameter halo consisting of stars ejected from cluster.[8]
References
Bibliography
- Burnham, Robert. Burnham's Celestial Handbook. Dover, 1978. ISBN 0-486-23567-X.
External links
- NGC 2516 on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images
- SEDS – NGC 2516