INVESTIGATION ON THE REGION OF THE OPEN CLUSTER TR 14

R.A. VÁZQUEZ; G. BAUME; P. PRADO; A. FEINSTEIN

ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS. SUPPLEMENT SERIES (PRINT)

ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS

Año: 1996 p. 75 - 94

0365-0138

We present UBVRI CCD imaging photometry down to approximately V=19mag in the area of the very young open cluster Tr 14. Our results confirm the existence of an anomalous extinction law in the area if it is interpreted in terms of the UBVRI photometry. According to our analysis the cluster distance is d=3100 (V_0_-M_V_=12.50mag) and its age is 1.5+/-.5x10^6^y. We want to draw the attention on stars which, from the observed magnitude-spread at constant color, could be stars in an early stage of evolution. In that case, the observed spread leads to assume that the process of star formation in Tr 14 is continuous whereas, from pre-main sequence evolutionary tracks, a duration of about 5x10^6^y is deduced for it. The computation of the cluster initial mass function reveals a flat slope even though it still compares to a Salpeter law. At the same time, we found a spatial variation of the cluster IMF, which could be explained by mass segregation in the star formation process. The cluster youth and its compact appearance seem to confirm that it is far from virial equilibrium. The observed total cluster mass is around 2000Msun_ and its core contains about 40% of the total.