Asteroseismic age constraints on the open cluster NGC 2477 using oscillating stars identified with TESS FFI

Abstract

Context. Asteroseismology is one of the few methods to derive ages of individual stars due to the high precision of their observations. Isochrone fitting is a powerful alternative method for deriving ages by studying clusters of stars. Pulsating stars in clusters should therefore allow for detailed studies of the stellar models. Aims. Our objectives are to exploit the NASA TESS data along with ESA Gaia data to search for and detect oscillations in cluster member stars. We analyse the intermediate-age open cluster NGC 2477, known to suffer from differential extinction, to explore if asteroseismology and cluster characteristics can help us understand the metallicity and extinction, as well as result in better age determinations than isochrone-fitting alone. Methods. We combined a multitude of recent observations from Gaia, high-resolution spectroscopy, and extinction maps to analyse the cluster and then search for and detect variability in the member stars using TESS full frame images (FFIs) data. To interpret all of these data, we used stellar structure, evolution and oscillation codes. Results. We conducted an in-depth analysis of the extinction and metallicity of NGC 2477, using the most recent spectroscopic, photometric, and extinction observations for the cluster. Analysis of dust and extinction maps confirmed that the differential extinction in the direction of the cluster is not due to the background. The cluster’s metallicity from high-resolution spectroscopy varies from 0.06 to 0.16 dex. We performed an isochrone fitting to the cluster using publically available isochrones (BASTI, MIST, and PARSEC), which provides a cluster age of between 0.6 to 1.1 Ga. Then using TESS FFI, we analysed the time dimension of the members of this cluster. We created optimised pixel light curves using the tessipack package which allows us to consider possible contamination by nearby stars. Using these light curves, we identified many interesting levels of variability of stars in this cluster, including binaries and oscillating stars. For the asteroseismic analysis, we selected a few uncontaminated A–F type oscillating stars and used the MESA and GYRE codes to interpret the frequency signals. By comparing the theoretical and the observed spectra, we identified frequency separations, Δν, for four stars. Then using the identified Δν and imposing that the best matched theoretical models have the same age, metallicity, and background extinction, we constrained the cluster’s age to 1.0 ± 0.1 Ga. Conclusions. We conclude that using the TESS FFI data, we can identify oscillating stars in clusters and constrain the age of the cluster using asteroseismology.