NGC 330 explained

Credit:Hubble Space Telescope
NGC 330
Constellation:Tucana
Epoch:J2000
Ra:[1]
Constellation Name:Tucana
Dist Ly:182000
Appmag V:9.60
Size V:2.8′ × 2.5′[2]
Age: Gyr
Names:ESO 029-SC 024.

NGC 330 is an open cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud. It is located in the constellation Tucana. It was discovered on 1 August 1826 by James Dunlop. It was described by Dreyer as "a globular cluster, very bright, small, a little extended, stars from 13th to 15th magnitude."[3] At an aperture of 31.0 arcseconds, the apparent V-band magnitude is 9.60, but at this wavelength, it also has 0.36 magnitudes of interstellar extinction.

NGC 330 is quite young, at about 40 million years old, and has a large proportion of Be stars. Its estimated mass is, and its total luminosity is, leading to a mass-to-luminosity ratio of 0.06 /.[4] All else equal, older star clusters have higher mass-to-luminosity ratios; that is, they have lower luminosities for the same mass.[4] About 34% of the massive star population in NGC 330 is estimated to be in a close binary star system; this is lower than clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Milky Way, but it is unknown if this is because NGC 330 is metal-poor or is older than the compared clusters.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database . Results for NGC 0330 . September 2, 2016.
  2. NGC 330. January 1, 2016.
  3. Web site: New General Catalog Objects: NGC 300 - 349. Cseligman. October 30, 2016.
  4. 10.1093/mnras/stab1065. Dynamical masses and mass-to-light ratios of resolved massive star clusters – II. Results for 26 star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds. 2021. Song. Ying-Yi. Mateo. Mario. Bailey. John I.. Walker. Matthew G.. Roederer. Ian U.. Olszewski. Edward W.. Reiter. Megan. Kremin. Anthony. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 504. 3. 4160–4191. free . 2104.06882.
  5. 2021A&A...652A..70B. The young massive SMC cluster NGC 330 seen by MUSE. II. Multiplicity properties of the massive-star population. Bodensteiner, J.. Sana, H.. Wang, C.. Langer, N.. Mahy, L.. Banyard, G.. de Koter, A.. de Mink, S. E.. Evans, C. J.. Götberg, Y.. Patrick, L. R.. Schneider, F. R. N.. Tramper, F.. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 2021 . 652. A70. 18. 10.1051/0004-6361/202140507. 2104.13409. 207852580 .