These data were used to determine the paths of stellar evolution.
M67 is the nearest old open cluster, and thus has become a standard example for studying stellar evolution.
They are red giant stars in the very late stages of stellar evolution.
Of course, a billion years is a long time even in stellar evolution.
"It provided the framework which other people used to put stars into the context of stellar evolution."
Currently, using these new models for stellar evolution, the estimated age of the oldest known star is 14.46 0.8 billion years.
"And throw out three centuries' worth of data on stellar evolution."
As such, they are the first to leave the main sequence and undergo stellar evolution.
We can see very rapid cosmological and stellar evolution here now.
Open clusters are key objects in the study of stellar evolution.