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Abstract

We present the results of a wide-field (80’ x 80’) photometric and spectroscopic survey of the young open cluster Collinder 70, which is also known as the ORI OB 1b association, centered on the central star of Orion’s belt, ε Ori (Alnilam). Seventy Coll 70 spectroscopy targets were selected from BVRIc color magnitude diagrams for observation using the CTIO HYDRA multi-object spectrograph; we aimed to identify targets exhibiting H" in emission and a strong lithium 6708Å line in absorption. About a third of our targets (23/70 stars) are consistent with being youthful members of Coll 70. Intermediate resolution (R!20000) HYDRA Li I 6708Å equivalent widths and Baraffe et al. (2002) evolutionary models strongly suggest that this association is << 30 Myr. Observational evidence showing that some stars exhibit primordial levels of lithium, giant-like features in low-resolution spectra and the presence of infra-red excesses indicate that the association is considerably younger than 30 Myr and is a potentially valuable target for age determination using the Lithium Depletion Boundary method.

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