Melotte 66
(Collinder 147; MWSC 1222; OCL 739; ESO 208 12; FSR 1396; FoF 4)
1.0
UTI
1.0
CN
1.0
Cdens
1.0
CC3
1.0
Clit
1.0
Cdup
N50 (P>50% members)
1800
Stellar density (N50/rad)
29.2 [N/pc2]
- CN 1.0 Very rich
- Cdens 1.0 Very dense
- CC3 1.0 Very high quality
- Clit 1.0 Very well-studied
- Cdup 1.0 Unique
Overview
Melotte 66 is a very rich, very dense object of very high C3 quality. Its parallax locates it at a large distance, well below the mid-plane, affected by low extinction. It is catalogued as a very massive, near-solar metallicity, old cluster, but with a large variance across recent sources for the metallicity and mass parameters (see Parameters). It is very well-studied in the literature.
Note: This object contains blue stragglers according to at least one source.
Note: This object shares a very small percentage of members with a later reported entry. See table with shared members information.
Data
| Reference | Year | RA [deg] | DEC [deg] | Plx [mas] | pmRA [mas/yr] | pmDE [mas/yr] | Rv [km/s] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCC | 99999β | 111.581 | -47.684 | 0.193 | -1.431 | 2.772 | 21.659 |
| Li et al. | 2025 | 111.573 | -47.685 | 0.183 | -1.474 | 2.745 | β |
| Hu & Soubiran | 2025 | 111.577 | -47.684 | β | β | β | β |
| Carrasco-Varela et al. | 2025 | 111.701 | -47.749 | β | β | β | β |
| Almeida et al. | 2025 | 111.567 | -47.682 | β | β | β | β |
| Hunt & Reffert | 2024 | 111.583 | -47.693 | 0.195 | -1.435 | 2.775 | 21.411 |
| Cavallo et al. | 2024 | 111.577 | -47.684 | 0.193 | β | β | β |
| Rain et al. | 2024 | 111.582 | -47.684 | 0.193 | -1.431 | 2.771 | β |
| Hunt & Reffert | 2023 | 111.583 | -47.693 | 0.195 | -1.435 | 2.775 | 21.411 |
| Just et al. | 2023 | 111.547 | -47.666 | β | β | β | β |
| Jaehnig et al. | 2021 | 111.572 | -47.682 | 0.211 | -1.486 | 2.739 | β |
| Rain et al. | 2021 | 111.573 | -47.685 | 0.183 | -1.474 | 2.745 | β |
| Dias et al. | 2021 | 111.567 | -47.682 | 0.189 | -1.485 | 2.735 | 18.295 |
| Cantat-Gaudin et al. | 2020 | 111.573 | -47.685 | 0.183 | -1.474 | 2.745 | β |
| SΓ‘nchez et al. | 2020 | 111.596 | -47.667 | β | -1.273 | 2.531 | β |
| Cantat-Gaudin & Anders | 2020 | 111.573 | -47.685 | 0.183 | -1.474 | 2.745 | β |
| Liu & Pang | 2019 | 111.558 | -47.694 | 0.258 | -1.476 | 2.74 | β |
| Soubiran et al. | 2018 | 111.573 | -47.685 | β | β | β | 21.94 |
| Bica et al. | 2019 | 111.601 | -47.666 | β | β | β | β |
| Cantat-Gaudin et al. | 2018 | 111.573 | -47.685 | 0.183 | -1.474 | 2.745 | β |
| Loktin & Popova | 2017 | 111.555 | -47.666 | β | -5.385 | 3.903 | 23.5 |
| Kharchenko et al. | 2016 | 111.547 | -47.666 | β | β | β | β |
| Dias et al. | 2014 | 111.596 | -47.667 | β | -3.09 | 3.26 | β |
| Kharchenko et al. | 2013 | 111.55 | -47.668 | β | -4.37 | 6.78 | 23.5 |
| Gozha et al. | 2012 | 111.596 | -47.667 | β | β | β | β |
| Bukowiecki et al. | 2011 | 111.583 | -47.677 | β | β | β | β |
| Kharchenko et al. | 2007 | 111.6 | -47.67 | β | 0.12 | β | β |
| van den Bergh | 2006 | 111.596 | -47.667 | β | β | β | β |
| Chen et al. | 2003 | 111.595 | -47.657 | β | β | β | β |
| Dias et al. | 2002 | 111.596 | -47.667 | β | -3.09 | 3.26 | 22.1 |
π‘ Note: The UCC values are estimated from its identified members.
| Reference | Year | Dist [kpc] | Av [mag] | DAv [mag] | Age [Myr] | [Fe/H] [dex] | Mass [Msun] | Bfrac | BSS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCC | 99999β | 4.69 | 0.44 | 1.05 | 3162 | -0.340 | 7335 | 0.34 | 0.1 |
| Li et al. | 2025 | 4.76 | 0.59 | β | 3790 | -0.366 | β | β | β |
| Hu & Soubiran | 2025 | β | β | β | β | -0.400(5) | β | β | β |
| Carrasco-Varela et al. | 2025 | 4.69 | 0.58 | β | 4487 | -0.400 | β | β | 0.10(1) |
| Almeida et al. | 2025 | 4.69 | 0.58 | β | 4487 | β | 8876 | β | β |
| Hunt & Reffert | 2024 | β | β | β | β | β | 5794(1) | β | β |
| Cavallo et al. | 2024 | 3.70 | 0.66 | β | 7244 | -0.630 | β | β | β |
| Rain et al. | 2024 | 4.68 | 0.33 | β | 4757 | β | 20958 | 0.34 | β |
| Hunt & Reffert | 2023 | 4.70 | 0.21 | 1.05 | 2472 | β | β | β | β |
| Just et al. | 2023 | β | β | β | 2317 | β | 3828 | β | β |
| Jaehnig et al. | 2021 | 4.78(1) | β | β | β | β | β | β | β |
| Rain et al. | 2021 | 4.72 | 0.46 | β | 3388 | β | β | β | 14 |
| Dias et al. | 2021 | 4.69 | 0.58 | β | 4487 | -0.325 | β | β | β |
| Cantat-Gaudin et al. | 2020 | 4.83 | 0.25 | β | 4266 | β | β | β | β |
| Cantat-Gaudin & Anders | 2020 | 4.72 | β | β | β | β | β | β | β |
| Liu & Pang | 2019 | β | β | β | 2690 | 0.000 | β | β | β |
| Soubiran et al. | 2018 | 4.72 | β | β | β | β | β | β | β |
| Cantat-Gaudin et al. | 2018 | 4.72 | β | β | β | β | β | β | β |
| Loktin & Popova | 2017 | 4.30 | 0.44 | β | 2897 | β | β | β | β |
| Kharchenko et al. | 2016 | 4.49 | 0.39 | β | 2317 | β | β | β | β |
| Kharchenko et al. | 2013 | 4.49 | 0.39 | β | 2317 | -0.330 | β | β | β |
| Gozha et al. | 2012 | 4.31 | β | β | 2786 | -0.330 | β | β | β |
| Bukowiecki et al. | 2011 | 5.06(1) | 0.19 | β | 3162 | β | β | β | β |
| van den Bergh | 2006 | 4.31 | 0.43 | β | 2754 | β | β | β | β |
| Chen et al. | 2003 | 4.31 | 0.44 | β | 2780 | -0.350(1) | β | β | β |
| Dias et al. | 2002 | 4.70 | 0.46 | β | 3388 | -0.330 | β | β | β |
(N): Indicates that there are N extra values assigned to this parameter in the corresponding reference.
MOCA


Cavallo et al. (2024)
Gold sample.
Almeida et al. (2025)
Mass determination: good fit. Isochrone match: intermediate fit. Silver sample.
Rain et al. (2024)
BSSs appear in two distinct, parallel sequences, both well aligned with binary evolution tracks of different donor masses. This resembles double BSS sequences seen in other clusters. Existing evidence suggests mass transfer may contribute to both sequences, but the detailed origin remains uncertain.