Plaskett’s Star and Its Environment

Abstract

Abstract Astrometric information from GAIA DR3 is used to examine the environment around the massive binary system Plaskett’s Star (PS). PS is found to be embedded in a stellar grouping that has distinct kinematic and spatial distributions. Based on the characteristics of these neighboring stars, it is suggested that PS may have formed during the earliest phases of star formation in the neighboring cluster NGC 2244—if so, then PS likely has an age in excess of ∼5 million years.