Is the Hogg 12-NGC 3590 pair a new open cluster binary system?

PIATTI, A. E.; CLARIÁ, J. J.; AHUMADA, A. V.

Salta

Congreso; 53 Reunion Anual de la Asociacion Argentina de Astronomia; 2010

IATE - UNS

Based on CCD UBVIKC images obtained at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO, Chile) and on morphological criteria, as well as on the stellar density in the region, we confirm that Hogg 12 is a genuine open cluster (OC) separated in the sky from NGC 3590 by scarcely 3.6 pc. The colour-magnitude diagrams of Hogg 12, cleaned from field star contamination, reveal that this is a solar metal content cluster,affected by E(B-V) = 0.40 ± 0.05, located at a heliocentric distance = 2.0±0.5 kpc, and of an age similar to that of NGC 3590. Evidence that these two objects form an OC binary system is presented. A detailed version of this work can be seen in PASP, 122, 516 (2010).