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New Galactic Star Clusters Discovered in the Disk Area of the VVVX Survey

Borissova, J., Ivanov, V.D., Lucas, P.W., Kurtev, R., Alonso-Garcia, J., Ramirez Alegria, S., Minniti, D., Froebrich, D., Hempel, M., Medina, N., and others. (2018) New Galactic Star Clusters Discovered in the Disk Area of the VVVX Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 481 (3). pp. 3902-3920. ISSN 1365-2966. (doi:10.1093/mnras/sty2354) (KAR id:68928)

Abstract

The ‘VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea eXtended (VVVX)’ ESO Public Survey is a near-infrared photometric sky survey that covers nearly 1700 deg2 towards the Galactic disc and bulge. It is well-suited to search for new open clusters, hidden behind dust and gas. The pipeline processed and calibrated KS-band tile images of 40 per cent of the disc area covered by VVVX was visually inspected for stellar overdensities. Then, we identified cluster candidates by examination of the composite JHKS colour images. The colour-magnitude diagrams of the cluster candidates are constructed. Whenever possible the Gaia DR2 parameters are used to calculate the mean proper motions, radial velocities, reddening and distances. We report the discovery of 120 new infrared clusters and stellar groups. Approximately half of them (47 per cent) are faint, compact, highly reddened, and they seem to be associated with other indicators of recent star formation, such as nearby Young Stellar Objects, Masers, H II regions or bubbles. The preliminary distance determinations allow us to trace the clusters up to 4.5 kpc, but most of the cluster candidates are centred at 2.2 kpc. The mean proper motions of the clusters show that in general they follow the disc motion of the Galaxy.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1093/mnras/sty2354
Uncontrolled keywords: Galaxy: open clusters and associations, Galaxy: disk, Infrared: stars
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy > QB460 Astrophysics
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User: Dirk Froebrich
Date Deposited: 05 Sep 2018 09:29 UTC
Last Modified: 05 Nov 2024 12:30 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/68928 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Froebrich, D..

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