Cluster membership for the long-period Cepheid calibrator SV Vul

Abstract

Classical Cepheids represent the first step of the distance scale ladder. Claims of tension between the locally calculated Hubble constant and the values deduced from Planck’s results have sparked new interest in these distance calibrators. Cluster membership provides an independent distance measurement, as well as astrophysical context for studies of their stellar properties. Here, we report the discovery of a young open cluster in the vicinity of SV Vul, one of the most luminous Cepheids known in the Milky Way. Gaia DR2 data show that SV Vul is a clear astrometric and photometric member of the new cluster, which we name Alicante 13. Although dispersed, Alicante 13 is moderately well populated, and contains three other luminous stars, one early-A bright giant and two low-luminosity red supergiants. The cluster is about 30 Ma old at a nominal distance of 2.5 kpc. With this age, SV Vul should have a mass around 10 M⊙, in good accordance with its luminosity, close to the highest luminosity for Cepheids allowed by recent stellar models.