Digital Universe Guide - Hayden Planetarium
Digital Universe Guide - Hayden Planetarium
Digital Universe Guide - Hayden Planetarium
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84 3. THE MILKY WAY ATLAS<br />
3.3.8 Open Star Clusters<br />
Group Name oc<br />
Reference Optically visible open clusters and Candidates<br />
(Dias+ 2002-2012)<br />
Prepared by Brian Abbott (AMNH/<strong>Hayden</strong>)<br />
Labels Yes<br />
Files oc.speck, oc.label<br />
Dependencies none<br />
Census 1,041 clusters with labels<br />
An open star cluster is a loose assemblage of stars numbering from hundreds to thousands. Unlike<br />
in an OB association, the stars in an open cluster are bound by their mutual gravitation. Astronomers<br />
know from the stellar spectra that stars in open clusters are typically young. (With the star’s spectrum,<br />
we can determine the spectral type and the luminosity class, revealing the age of the star.)<br />
Since these are young stars, we expect to see them in the star-forming regions of our Galaxy,<br />
namely in the spiral arms. For this reason, open clusters exist, for the most part, in the plane of the<br />
Galaxy where we view the arms edge-on as the band of light in the night sky. Because of this, open<br />
clusters were originally known as Galactic clusters, but this term fell out of favor once astronomers<br />
began to understand that the Galaxy includes objects beyond the Milky Way’s disk.<br />
Source Catalog The open cluster catalog was compiled by Wilton Dias and collaborators in Brazil<br />
and Portugal. It is a comprehensive collection of data from other catalogs coupled with the latest<br />
science and data from ground- and space-based observatories.<br />
Data Variables for Open Star Clusters<br />
Number Name Description Units<br />
0 diam Angular diameter arcminutes<br />
1 logage Log of the cluster’s age years<br />
Exploring the Data As previously mentioned, open clusters are good tracers of local spiral<br />
structure. We have included a parameter in the data file to emphasize this point visually. The logage<br />
data variable is an indication of where the most recent clusters are forming. A preset selection