NGC 6281

(Melotte 161; Collinder 324; VDBH 213; MWSC 2530; OCL 1003; vdBergh-Hagen 213; ESO 332 19; FoF 2332; OCSN 238)

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1.0 UTI
1.0
CN
1.0
Cdens
1.0
CC3
1.0
Clit
1.0
Cdup
N50 (P>50% members) 606
Stellar density (N50/rad) 122.6 [N/pc2]
C3 classification AA
  • 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
đŸ“Ĩ Members 📊 Colab đŸ”Ŧ Bayestar19 MOCAMOCA 🔍 CDS 🔍 Simbad 🔍 CDS (Îą, δ) 🔍 Simbad (Îą, δ)

Overview
ℹī¸
NGC 6281 is a very rich, very dense object of very high C3 quality. Its parallax locates it at a close distance, near the mid-plane, affected by low extinction. It is catalogued as a near-solar metallicity, intermediate-age cluster, but with a large variance across recent sources for the age, metallicity, and mass parameters (see Parameters). It is very well-studied in the literature.

Palma et al. (2025)
Classified as optical pair P152, along with HSC_2854.

Almeida et al. (2025)
Mass determination: good fit. Isochrone match: good fit. Gold sample.

Cavallo et al. (2024)
Gold sample.

Hunt & Reffert (2024)
Classified as open cluster. CMD class: 1.00 (50th percentile).

Richer et al. (2021)
The expected number of WDs is 16.3, 0 WD candidates found, and 0 WD candidates found in the wide search.

Ahumada & Lapasset (2007)
Selected angular diameter from (1987, Lund Catalogue of Open Cluster Data). Star 9 (WEBDA) is cited as a straggler in (1985ApJ...294L.103A), (1982A&A...109...37M), and (1988IBVS.3199....1N), but it is a non-member according to (1974PASP...86..284F).

Data
🔍 Search references for NGC 6281 in: SciX Simbad
ℹī¸
Reference Year RA [deg] DEC [deg] Plx [mas] pmRA [mas/yr] pmDE [mas/yr] Rv [km/s]
UCC 99999– 256.184 -37.955 1.884 -1.884 -4.045 -5.322
Li et al. 2025 256.179 -37.948 1.873 -1.856 -4.017 –
Wei et al. 2025 256.181 -37.95 1.885 -1.902 -4.044 –
Almeida et al. 2025 256.181 -37.952 – – – –
Alfonso et al. 2024 256.182 -37.946 1.845 -1.888 -4.044 –
Hunt & Reffert 2024 256.189 -37.941 1.885 -1.881 -4.05 -5.662
Cavallo et al. 2024 256.195 -37.947 1.886 – – –
Hunt & Reffert 2023 256.189 -37.941 1.885 -1.881 -4.05 -5.662
Qin et al. 2023 256.17 -37.95 1.88 -1.9 -4.06 -4.8
Just et al. 2023 256.16 -37.98 – – – –
He et al. 2022 256.18 -37.946 1.884 -1.902 -4.051 –
Tarricq et al. 2022 256.205 -37.938 1.888 -1.899 -4.049 –
Jadhav & Subramaniam 2021 256.179 -37.948 – – – –
Jaehnig et al. 2021 256.191 -37.955 1.91 -1.833 -4.039 –
Rain et al. 2021 256.179 -37.948 1.873 -1.856 -4.017 –
Richer et al. 2021 256.178 -37.942 1.881 -1.861 -4.009 –
Dias et al. 2021 256.181 -37.952 1.876 -1.871 -4.005 -6.415
Cantat-Gaudin et al. 2020 256.179 -37.948 1.873 -1.856 -4.017 –
Cantat-Gaudin & Anders 2020 256.179 -37.948 1.873 -1.856 -4.017 –
Liu & Pang 2019 256.169 -37.943 1.882 -1.897 -3.989 –
Soubiran et al. 2018 256.179 -37.948 – – – -5.0
Bica et al. 2019 256.166 -37.945 – – – –
Cantat-Gaudin et al. 2018 256.179 -37.948 1.873 -1.856 -4.017 –
Loktin & Popova 2017 256.17 -37.986 – -6.478 -3.407 -15.4
Kharchenko et al. 2016 256.16 -37.98 – – – –
Dias et al. 2014 256.171 -37.985 – -2.27 -2.71 –
Kharchenko et al. 2013 256.17 -37.98 – -2.96 -3.75 -15.4
Gozha et al. 2012 256.171 -37.985 – – – –
Piskunov et al. 2008 256.155 -37.989 – – – –
Kharchenko et al. 2007 256.17 -37.99 – 0.45 – -15.43
Piskunov et al. 2007 256.155 -37.989 – – – –
Ahumada & Lapasset 2007 256.175 -37.983 – – – –
van den Bergh 2006 256.175 -37.983 – – – –
Kharchenko et al. 2005 256.17 -37.99 – -2.96 -3.75 -15.43
Kharchenko et al. 2003 256.17 -37.95 – -3.33 -3.85 –
Chen et al. 2003 256.173 -37.987 – – – –
Dias et al. 2002 256.171 -37.985 – -2.14 -2.97 -5.58
Lynga 1987 256.202 -37.891 – – – –
van den Bergh & Hagen 1975 255.35 -37.833 – – – –
Sulentic et al. 1973 256.201 -37.884 – – – –

💡 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 99999– 0.52 0.47 0.8 316 0.043 601 0.46 0
Li et al. 2025 0.53 0.43 – 472 0.144 – – –
Wei et al. 2025 0.62 0.57 – 275 0.250 1061 0.46 –
Almeida et al. 2025 0.52 0.63 – 328 – 988 – –
Alfonso et al. 2024 0.54 0.30 – 648 0.044 – – –
Hunt & Reffert 2024 – – – – – 1414(1) – –
Cavallo et al. 2024 0.53 0.82 – 186 0.080 – – –
Hunt & Reffert 2023 0.50 0.37 0.80 274 – – – –
Qin et al. 2023 0.66 0.63 – 224 – – – –
Just et al. 2023 – – – 316 – 26 – –
He et al. 2022 – 0.75 – 282 – – – –
Spina et al. 2022 – – – – -0.106 – – –
Tarricq et al. 2022 0.53 – – 513 – – – –
Jadhav & Subramaniam 2021 0.54 0.30 – 513 – 1402 – 0(1)
Jaehnig et al. 2021 0.52(1) – – – – – – –
Rain et al. 2021 0.53 0.44 – 309 – – – 0
Richer et al. 2021 – 0.55 – 300 – – – –
Dias et al. 2021 0.52 0.63 – 328 0.042 – – –
Cantat-Gaudin et al. 2020 0.54 0.30 – 513 – – – –
Kounkel et al. 2020 0.52 0.64 – 251 – – – –
Cantat-Gaudin & Anders 2020 0.53 – – – – – – –
Liu & Pang 2019 – – – 269 0.250 – – –
Soubiran et al. 2018 0.53 – – – – – – –
Cantat-Gaudin et al. 2018 0.53 – – – – – – –
Loktin & Popova 2017 0.50 0.47 – 313 – – – –
Kharchenko et al. 2016 0.51 0.61 – 316 – – – –
Kharchenko et al. 2013 0.51 0.61 – 316 0.000 – – –
Gozha et al. 2012 0.48 – – 314 0.000 162 – –
Piskunov et al. 2008 0.49 0.47 – 324 – 214(1) – –
Piskunov et al. 2007 0.49 0.47 – 324 – 101 – –
Ahumada & Lapasset 2007 – 0.47 – 316 – – – 0
van den Bergh 2006 0.48 0.47 – 316 – – – –
Kharchenko et al. 2005 0.49 0.47 – 324 – – – –
Kharchenko et al. 2003 0.48 0.47 – – – – – –
Chen et al. 2003 0.48 0.47 – 310 0.000(1) – – –
Dias et al. 2002 0.48 0.47 – 314 0.000 – – –
Lynga 1987 0.60 0.44 – 224 0.100 – – –

(N): Indicates that there are N extra values assigned to this parameter in the corresponding reference.

Visualization
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NGC 6281 UCC
NGC 6281 HUNT23
NGC 6281 CANTAT20
Galactocentric position diagram