NGC 2516 (also known asCaldwell 96) is anopen star cluster in the southern sky in the constellationCarina discovered byAbbe Lacaille in 1751-1752.[1] It is also called Southern Beehive[2][3] or theSprinter.[4][5]
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 magnitudered giant stars and three mainvisual double stars: HJ 4027, HJ 4031 and I 29. A smalltelescope 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 nearbystar clusterMamajek 2 inOphiuchus have similar age andmetallicity. 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]
