Astronomers discover new supergiant-rich stellar cluster
Astronomers have announced the discovery of a new stellar cluster named Barbá 2, situated approximately 24,100 light years away from Earth. This cluster comprises several supergiant stars according to a detailed research paper recently published on the arXiv preprint server.
Star clusters are essentially groups of stars that share a common origin and are held together by gravity for an extended period. Discovering and studying such clusters enhances our comprehension of star formation and evolution. Barbá 2 was initially recognized a decade ago by Chilean astronomer Rodolfo Barbá while conducting multi-wavelength scans of the Milky Way in search of stellar groupings, which could be linked with warm dust. Located between the globular cluster NGC 3603 and the HII region known as Gum 35, Barbá identified seven bright stars devoid of warm dust.
Sadly, Rodolfo Barbá passed away in 2021 before he could publish his findings. However, a team led by Jesús Maíz Apellániz from the Astrobiology Center in Madrid, and Ignacio Negueruela from the University of Alicante, finally published new research supported by data from ESA's Gaia satellite. They honored the discovery by naming the cluster Barbá 2. Due to Barbá’s involvement with the Villafranca project, it has been cataloged as Villafranca B-006.
Barbá 2 features a core radius of 2.74 light years. Among the 201 most probable cluster members identified, 53 are considered likely contaminants or part of an extended population. The cluster's standout feature is a yellow supergiant star, accompanied by five red and one blue supergiant, earning it the classification as a supergiant-rich stellar cluster.
The study highlights that Barbá 2 exhibits no strong internal motions or significant numbers of runaway stars, suggesting it is not currently expanding. Additional follow-up observations are necessary to better understand the characteristics of Barbá 2.
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