Researchers discovered 110 low-mass stars with ages less than 10 million years using the Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) in the core region of the cluster known as NGC 1893.
They detailed their research, "Deep V and I CCD Photometry of Young Star Cluster NGC 1893 With the 3.6m DOT," on arXiv.org.
Study Detects Over 100 New Stars in Young Low-Mass Stellar Population of NGC 1893
As a result, a team of researchers led by Neelam Panwar of India's Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Science (ARIES) examined NGC 1893, a young star cluster connected with the HII area named Sh2-236. Phys.org said NGC 1893 comprises roughly five O-type stars and many B-type stars at a distance of about 10,500 light years from Earth. The majority of investigations of this cluster to far have been shallow (about 21-22 mag) and complete up to one solar mass. By undertaking thorough photometric investigations of NGC 1893, Panwar's team hoped to change this.
Astronomers detailed the DOT optical measurements enough to detect stars in NGC 1893 with masses less than 0.2 solar masses. The DOT data allowed the scientists to detect 425 young stars in the cluster's center region, 110 of which were new discoveries.
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According to the study, the bulk of the discovered objects are low-mass stars with ages less than 10 million years. According to the findings, field stars have a negligible contribution in the pre-main sequence (PMS) zone of the cluster's color-magnitude diagram (CMD). The CMD may be used to identify the cluster's youthful stellar population.
In addition, researchers found the mass function slope in the mass range of 0.2 to 2.5 solar masses to be around -1.43. The value found for other known star-forming complexes is consistent with this conclusion. According to the authors of the article, the geographical distribution of the examined young stars in NGC 1893 as a function of mass reveals that most of the stars are relatively massive toward the cluster core.
Young Clusters Explained
News Concerns said young star clusters have been found to contain young stars with a wide variety of masses, all produced from the same molecular cloud. Massive stars in such systems, on the other hand, may have a considerable impact on the development of low-mass stars and subsequent star formation. When stars form clusters, they tend to ionize the natal cloud, resulting in an expanding HII zone-a region of ionized atomic hydrogen in space. Following that, the increasing HII zone interacts with the surrounding cloud, potentially triggering star formation through various mechanisms.
As a result, astronomers consider young star clusters associated with HII areas to be ideal locations for studying the impact of massive stars on the birth and development of low-mass stars. These clusters may also give information on the many mechanisms that lead to the birth of stars.
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