Multi - Conjugate Adaptive Optics VLT imaging of the distant old open cluster FSR 1415
نویسندگان
چکیده
We employ the recently installed near infrared Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics demonstrator (MAD) to determine basic properties of a newly identified, old and distant, Galactic open cluster (FSR 1415). The MAD facility remarkably approaches the diffraction limit, reaching a resolution of 0. 07 (in K), that is also uniform in a field of ∼ 1.8 in diameter. The MAD facility provides photometry that is 50% complete at K ∼ 19. This corresponds to about 2.5 mag below the cluster main sequence turn-off. This high quality data set allows us to derive an accurate heliocentric distance of 8.6 kpc, a metallicity close to solar, and an age of ∼ 2.5Gyr. On the other hand, the deepness of the data allow us to reconstruct (completeness-corrected) mass functions indicating a relatively massive cluster, with a flat core MF. The VLT/MAD capabilities will therefore provide fundamental data in identifying/analyzing other faint and distant open clusters in the Galaxy III and IV quadrants.
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