Open star clusters as a research area encompass the observational and theoretical study of gravitationally bound, relatively young stellar groupings in galactic disks, used as laboratories for stellar and Galactic astrophysics. Research focuses on their formation, dynamical evolution, and dissolution in the Galactic tidal field; detailed determination of their ages, distances, and metallicities; and the characterization of stellar populations, mass functions, and binary fractions. Open clusters are key tracers of Galactic structure, chemical evolution, and star formation history, and are investigated through multiwavelength photometry, high-resolution spectroscopy, astrometry, and N-body simulations to constrain models of stellar evolution and cluster dynamics.
This week, Aotearoa New Zealand officially celebrates Matariki for the fourth time, marked by the reappearance in the night sky of the star cluster also known as the Pleiades.
Environment
Jun 18, 2025
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Astronomers from the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in India and elsewhere have employed the Devasthal Fast Optical Telescope (DFOT) to conduct long-term photometric observations of an open ...
A study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics has identified four previously unknown primordial open cluster (OC) groups in the Milky Way.
Astronomy
May 30, 2025
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Using the 104-cm Sampurnanand optical telescope, Indian astronomers have performed photometric observations of an open cluster named King 6, which resulted in the detection of three new variable stars in the field of this ...
Stars in the Milky Way tend to form in families, with similar stars springing to life in roughly the same place at roughly the same time. These stars later head out into the wider galaxy when they're ready to fly the nest. ...
Astronomy
Apr 29, 2025
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This new image, released on April 4, 2025, showcases the dazzling young star cluster NGC 346. Although both the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope have released images of NGC 346 previously, this image ...
Astronomy
Apr 14, 2025
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Astronomers have performed a multiwavelength study of nine open cluster candidates. As a result, they found that all of them are genuine open clusters and characterized by their fundamental properties. The finding was reported ...
A study published in Science Advances sheds new light on the mysterious origins of free-floating planetary-mass objects (PMOs)—celestial bodies with masses between stars and planets.
Astronomy
Feb 26, 2025
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The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a stunning 80 million-pixel image of the star cluster RCW 38, as captured by ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), operating in Chile's Atacama ...
Astronomy
Feb 13, 2025
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Using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), astronomers have observed a supermassive galactic open cluster designated Westerlund 1. Results of the study, published Jan. 28 on the pre-print server arXiv, yield essential details ...
