The Comprehensive Investigations of the NGC 7419 Open Cluster and the New Perspective on Mass Populations

Abstract

We present a structural, kinematic, and photometric analysis of the young, red supergiant- and Be star-rich open cluster NGC 7419 using Gaia DR3 and 2MASS data. Using the HDBSCAN algorithm and conservative membership criteria, we identify 734 high-probability cluster members, separating the cluster from the dense Perseus Arm background. Isochrone fitting to the Gaia DR3 color-magnitude diagram, treating classical Be stars separately to account for their circumstellar excess, yields an age of 15 +/- 2 Myr, a distance of 3161 +/- 261 pc, a distance modulus of 12.50 +/- 0.08 mag, and a color excess E(GBP-GRP) = 2.58 +/- 0.06 mag. An independent 2MASS analysis gives a consistent distance modulus of 12.53 mag and E(J-Ks) = 0.99 mag. The Be stars show a prominent infrared excess in J-Ks, consistent with free-free and bound-free emission from circumstellar disks. We derive mean proper motions of -2.738 +/- 0.115 and -1.604 +/- 0.149 mas yr^-1 and a mean parallax of 0.288 +/- 0.062 mas, corresponding to a trigonometric distance of 3316 +/- 317 pc. The photometric distance is adopted as the primary estimate. A generalized King profile gives a core radius of 1.53 +/- 0.08 arcmin and a limiting radius of 8.16 +/- 1.1 arcmin. The stellar mass distribution is best described by a three-component Gaussian model, which we interpret as three distinct mass populations. Their coexistence and incomplete mixing are consistent with the young dynamical state of NGC 7419. Hierarchical formation provides a plausible framework for their origin.