NGC 2516

NGC 2516 (also known as Caldwell 96) is an open star cluster in the southern sky in the constellation Carina discovered by Abbe Lacaille in 1751-1752.^[1] It is also called Southern Beehive^[2][3] or the Sprinter.^[4][5]

NGC 2516
NGC 2516
Observation data (J2000.0 epoch)
Right ascension	07h 58m 20s
Declination	−60° 52′
Distance	1.3 kly
Apparent magnitude (V)	3.8
Apparent dimensions (V)	30.0′
Physical characteristics
Mass	105 to 106[citation needed] M☉
Other designations	NGC 2516, Caldwell 96, Cr 172
Associations
Constellation	Carina
See also: Open cluster, List of open clusters

Description

This bright cluster itself is easily visible with the naked eye as a hazy patch, but is resolvable into stars using binoculars. It contains two 5th magnitude red giant stars and three main visual double stars: HJ 4027, HJ 4031 and I 29. A small telescope would be required to split the double stars, which are all pairs of 8-9 magnitude and 1-10 arcseconds separation.^[6]

NGC 2516 and the recently discovered nearby star cluster Mamajek 2 in Ophiuchus have similar age and metallicity. Recently, kinematic evidence was presented by E. Jilinski and coauthors that suggests that these two stellar groups may have formed in the same star-forming complex some 135 million years ago.^[7]

The cluster is surrounded by the 500-parsec diameter halo consisting of stars ejected from cluster.^[8]