NGC 3114 explained

NGC 3114
Type:	open cluster
Epoch:	J2000
Ra:	^[1]
Appmag V:	+ 4.2
Constellation:	Carina
Names:	Cr 215

NGC 3114 is a sparse open cluster which is projected onto the outskirts of the Carina complex.^[2]

Because of the high number of field stars from the disc of the Milky Way, it is very difficult object to study as this contamination makes its size ambiguous.

Studies of NGC 3114

E(B - V) = 0 . 27 and its age to range from 6 x 10 ^{7} and 2 x 10 ^{8} years.

In 1988, Schneider and Weiss obtained photometry data for 122 stars, revising the cluster reddening to be

E(B - V) = 0 . 03 .

Three years later, Sagar and Sharpless made the largest data recording of the cluster to date, obtaining BV CCD photometry of around 350 stars from seven 3.6'×5.4' regions. Because these regions were rather far from the cluster centre, a substantial contamination was expected. Nevertheless, by assuming the cluster reddening value obtained by Schneider and Weiss, they found the cluster to be

940 \pm 60 pc, which agreed with the measurements taken 28 years previously by Jankowitz and McCosh. They also found the age of the cluster to be 1-2 x 10 ^{8} years.

Finally, in 1989 Claria' et al. estimated the cluster chemical abundance, finding that NGC 3114 has basically the same metal richness as the Sun, for which

[Fe/H] = -0 . 04 \pm 0 . 04 (Fe - Iron, H - Hydrogen).

See also

• List of open clusters
• Open cluster family
• Open cluster remnant
• Star clusters
• Stellar associations

Notes and References

1. Web site: News Sky Map . NGC 3114 . 2012-01-04.
2. G. Carraro, F. Patat, "Star clusters in the Carina complex: UBVRI photometry of NGC 3114, Colliner 228 and vdB-Hage 99*, A&A, Volume 379, Number 1, November 2001, pp. 136-146