Messier 67

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Old open cluster in the constellation Cancer

title: "Messier 67" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["open-clusters", "cancer-(constellation)", "messier-objects", "ngc-objects", "orion–cygnus-arm", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1779", "discoveries-by-johann-gottfried-köhler"] description: "Old open cluster in the constellation Cancer" topic_path: "general/open-clusters" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_67" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Old open cluster in the constellation Cancer ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox open cluster"]

FieldValue
nameMessier 67
image[[File:M67_Mazur.jpg
captionOpen cluster Messier 67 in Cancer
epochJ2000.0
ra
dec
constellationCancer
dist_ly~2.61–2.93 kly
dist_pc800–900 pc
appmag_v6.1
size_v30.0′
radius_ly10 ly
age3.2 to 5 billion years
namesNGC 2682, Cr 204
::

| name = Messier 67 | image = [[File:M67_Mazur.jpg|300px]] | caption = Open cluster Messier 67 in Cancer | epoch = J2000.0 | class = | ra = | dec = | constellation = Cancer | dist_ly = ~2.61–2.93 kly | dist_pc = 800–900 pc | appmag_v = 6.1 | size_v = 30.0′ | mass_kg = | mass_msol = | radius_ly = 10 ly | v_hb = | age = 3.2 to 5 billion years | notes = | names = NGC 2682, Cr 204 Messier 67 (also known as M67 or NGC 2682) and sometimes called the King Cobra Cluster or the Golden Eye Cluster is an open cluster in the southern, equatorial half of Cancer. It was discovered by Johann Gottfried Koehler in 1779. Estimates of its age range between 3.2 and 5 billion years. Distance estimates are likewise varied, but typically are 800 -. Estimates of 855, 840, and 815 pc were established via binary star modelling and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting.

Description

M67 is not the oldest known open cluster; several Milky Way clusters are known to be older, yet farther than M67. It is a paradigm study object in stellar evolution:

  • it is well-populated
  • has negligible amounts of dust obscuration
  • all its stars are at the same distance and age, save for approximately 30 anomalous blue stragglers

M67 is one of the most-studied open clusters, yet estimates of its physical parameters such as age, mass, and number of stars of a given type, vary substantially. Richer et al. estimate its age to be 4 billion years, its mass to be 1080 solar masses (), and number its white dwarfs at 150. |author=Harvey B. Richer |author2=Gregory G. Fahlman |author3=Joanne Rosvick |author4=Rodrigo Ibata |date=1998 |title=The White Dwarf Cooling Age of M67 |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=504 |pages=L91 |arxiv=astro-ph/9806172 |bibcode= 1998ApJ...504L..91R |doi= 10.1086/311586 |issue=2 |s2cid=17309096 }} Hurley et al. estimate its current mass to be and its initial mass to be approximately 10 times as great. |author=Jarrod R. Hurley |author2=Onno R. Pols |author3=Sverre J. Aarseth |author4=Christopher A. Tout |date=2005 |title=A Complete N-body Model of the Old Open Cluster M67 |journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |volume=363 |issue=1 |pages=293–314 |arxiv=astro-ph/0507239 |doi= 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09448.x |doi-access=free |bibcode= 2005MNRAS.363..293H |s2cid=17632739 }}

It has more than 100 stars similar to the Sun, and numerous red giants. The total star count has been estimated at well over 500. |author=W. L. Sanders |date=1977 |title=Membership of the open cluster M67 |journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics Supplement Series |volume=27 |pages=89–116 |bibcode=1977A&AS...27...89S | last1 = Pichardo | first1 = Bárbara | last2 = Moreno | first2 = Edmundo | last3 = Allen | first3 = Christine | author3-link = Christine Allen (astronomer) | last4 = Bedin | first4 = Luigi R. | last5 = Bellini | first5 = Andrea | last6 = Pasquini | first6 = Luca | date = February 2012 | title = The Sun was not born in M 67 | journal = The Astronomical Journal | volume = 143 | issue = 3 | id = article ID 73 | bibcode = 2012AJ....143...73P | doi = 10.1088/0004-6256/143/3/73 | arxiv = 1201.0987 | pages = 73 | s2cid = 119266159

The cluster contains no main sequence stars bluer (hotter) than spectral type F, other than perhaps some of the blue stragglers, since the brighter stars of that age have already left the main sequence. In fact, when the stars of the cluster are plotted on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, there is a distinct "turn-off" representing the stars which have terminated hydrogen fusion in the core and are destined to become red giants. As a cluster ages, the turn-off moves progressively down the main sequence to cooler stars.

It appears that M67 has a bias toward heavier stars. One cause of this is mass segregation, the process by which lighter stars gain speed at the expense of more massive stars during close encounters, which moves them to greater average distance from the center of the cluster or allows escape altogether. |author=Ch. Bonatto |author2=E. Bica |name-list-style=amp |date=2003 |title=Mass segregation in M67 with 2MASS |url=http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2003/26/aah4157.pdf |journal=Astronomy and Astrophysics |volume=405 |pages=525 |bibcode = 2003A&A...405..525B |doi = 10.1051/0004-6361:20030205 |issue=2 |doi-access=free

A March 2016 joint AIP/JHU study by Barnes et al. on rotational periods of 20 Sun-like stars, measured by the effects of moving starspots on light curves, suggests that these approximately 4 billion-year old stars spin in about 26 days – like the Sun, which has a period at the equator of 25.38 days. |author=Sydney A. Barnes |author2=Jörg Weingrill |author3=Dario Fritzewski |author4=Klaus G. Strassmeier |author5=Imants Platais |date=2016 |title=Rotation periods for cool stars in the 4 Gyr-old open cluster M67, the solar-stellar connection, and the applicability of gyrochronology to at least solar age |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=823 |issue=1 |pages=16 |arxiv=1603.09179 |bibcode=2016ApJ...823...16B |doi=10.3847/0004-637X/823/1/16 |s2cid=89613927 |doi-access=free }} Measurements were carried out as part of the extended K2 mission of Kepler space telescope. This reinforces the applicability of many key properties of the Sun to stars of the same size and age, a fundamental principle of modern solar and stellar physics. The authors abbreviate this as the "solar-stellar connection".

Exoplanets

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Artist's_impression_of_an_exoplanet_orbiting_a_star_in_the_cluster_Messier_67_(eso1402a).tiff" caption="Artistic impression of an [[exoplanet]] orbiting a star in Messier 67."] ::

A radial velocity survey of M67 has found exoplanets around five stars in the cluster: YBP 1194, YBP 1514, YBP 401, Sand 978, and Sand 1429. A sixth star, Sand 364, was also thought to have a planet, but a follow-up study did not find evidence for it and concluded that the radial velocity variations have a non-planetary origin, likely stellar variability.

Gallery

File:NGC2682 - SDSS DR14 (panorama).jpg|Messier 67 (SDSS, optical and near-infrared) File:Open cluster HR diagram ages.gif|Hertzsprung-Russell diagram for two open clusters, M67 and NGC 188, showing color-magnitude data File:Artist’s impression of hot Jupiter exoplanet in the star cluster Messier 67.webm|Artist's impression video showing a hot Jupiter exoplanet orbiting close to a star in Messier 67 File:Hot Jupiter exoplanet in the star cluster Messier 67 (eso1621a).tiff|Artist's impression of a hot Jupiter exoplanet in the star cluster Messier 67

References

References

  1. Martina McGovern. "M67 Open cluster".
  2. "WEBDA page for open cluster NGC 2682".
  3. (2009). "Deep 2MASS Photometry of M67 and Calibration of the Main-Sequence J - KS Color Difference as an Age Indicator". The Astrophysical Journal.
  4. (2009). "Close binary and other variable stars in the solar-age Galactic open cluster M 67". Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  5. (2011). "Deep Infrared ZAMS Fits to Benchmark Open Clusters Hosting delta Scuti Stars". Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (Jaavso).
  6. (30 September 2014). "Did Our Solar System Originate in a Distant Star Cluster?". Daily Galaxy.
  7. (11 March 2020). "Stellar escapers from M67 can reach solar-like Galactic orbits". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
  8. (11 May 2020). "Searching for solar siblings in APOGEE and Gaia DR2 with N-body simulations". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
  9. (17 May 2016). "Stars nearly as old as Sun found to have similar spin rates". Astronomy Now.
  10. (January 2014). "Three planetary companions around M 67 stars". [[Astronomy & Astrophysics]].
  11. (July 2016). "Search for giant planets in M67. III. Excess of hot Jupiters in dense open clusters". [[Astronomy & Astrophysics]].
  12. (July 2017). "Search for giant planets in M 67. IV. Survey results". [[Astronomy & Astrophysics]].
  13. (October 2023). "False Planets around Giant Stars: A Case Study of Sanders 364 in M67". [[The Astronomical Journal]].
  14. (March 2024). "Search for giant planets in M67 V: a warm Jupiter orbiting the turn-off star S1429". [[Astronomy & Astrophysics]].

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