NGC 2467 (Sh2-311, LBN 1067) - Open Cluster associated with Emission Nebula in Puppis

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NGC 2467 is an Open cluster associated with the Emission nebula Sh2-311 with an age of a few million years at most, located some 13 000 – 17 000 light-years away in the southern constellation of Puppis. It is an extremely active stellar nursery, where new stars are born continuously from large clouds of dust and gas. NGC 2467 is located in an area of special interest in the third quadrant of the Milky Way known as "Puppis Window", which is characterized by low interstellar extinction, and therefore important to detect spiral tracers at large distances (15 kpc arm problem) and the tidal structures associated to "Argo" and "Canis Majoris" streams. The region is also interesting because it contains a number of young open clusters and nebular entities. The most conspicuous structure in NGC 2467 is the HII region Sh2-311, excited by the peculiar O6Vnne type star HD 64315. Haffner (1957) identified the clusters 18 (18a, 18b, 18c) and 19. Haffner 18abc (Haf18) actually is an elongated open cluster with an O7V type star as the massive component, and Haffner 19 (Haf19) is a compact cluster showing a Stroemgrem sphere ionized by a B0V type star. Haffner 18 contains about 50 stars, among which several short lived, massive ones. The massive star still surrounded by a small, dense shell of hydrogen, is called FM3060a. The shell is about 2.5 light-years wide and expands at a speed of 20 km/s. It must have been created some 40 000 years ago.

Courtesy: Deep photometric studies in the third quadrant: NGC 2467 (R. C. Gamen, R. Barbá, M. Rubio, R. A. Méndez, D. Minniti)

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