A comprehensive study of the open cluster NGC 6866

TL;DR

This study provides detailed photometric, spectroscopic, and astrometric analysis of the open cluster NGC 6866, determining its physical parameters, metallicity, and orbital characteristics, contributing to understanding its structure and evolution.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive multi-method analysis of NGC 6866, including new photometric, spectroscopic, and astrometric data, and derives its physical, chemical, and orbital parameters.

Findings

Cluster's metallicity is approximately solar.

Distance to the cluster is about 1189 parsecs.

Age of the cluster is approximately 813 million years.

Abstract

We present CCD $UBVRI$ photometry of the field of the open cluster NGC 6866. Structural parameters of the cluster are determined utilizing the stellar density profile of the stars in the field. We calculate the probabilities of the stars being a physical member of the cluster using their astrometric data and perform further analyses using only the most probable members. The reddening and metallicity of the cluster were determined by independent methods. The LAMOST spectra and the ultraviolet excess of the F and G type main-sequence stars in the cluster indicate that the metallicity of the cluster is about the solar value. We estimated the reddening $E(B-V)=0.074 \pm 0.050$ mag using the $U-B$ vs $B-V$ two-colour diagram. The distance modula, the distance and the age of NGC 6866 were derived as $\mu = 10.60 \pm 0.10$ mag, $d=1189 \pm 75$ pc and $t = 813 \pm 50$ Myr, respectively, by fitting colour-magnitude diagrams of the cluster with the PARSEC isochrones. The Galactic orbit of NGC 6866 indicates that the cluster is orbiting in a slightly eccentric orbit with $e=0.12$. The mass function slope $x=1.35 \pm 0.08$ was derived by using the most probable members of the cluster.