Evidences of tidal distortion and mass loss from the old open cluster NGC 6791

Abstract

We present the first evidence of clear signatures of tidal distortions in the density distribution of the fascinating open cluster NGC 6791. We find that the 2D density map shows a clear elongation and an irregular distribution starting from ~ 300″ from the cluster center and two tails extending in opposite directions beyond the tidal radius. These features are aligned to both the absolute proper motion and to the Galactic centre directions. Accordingly we find that both the surface brightness and star count density profiles reveal a departure from a King model starting from ~ 600″. These observational evidences suggest that NGC 6791 is currently undergoing mass-loss likely due to gravitational shocking and interactions with the tidal field of the Milky Way. We derive the expected mass-loss due to stellar evolution and tidal interactions and we estimate the initial cluster mass to be Mini = (1.5-4.0) × 105 M âŠ.