A kinematic study of Open Clusters: implications for their origin

Abstract

The Galactic population of open clusters provides an insight into star formation in the Galaxy. The open cluster catalogue by Dias et al.(2002b) is a rich source of data, including kinematic information. This large sample made it possible to carry out a systematic analysis of 481 open cluster orbits, using parameters based on orbit eccentricity and separation from the Galactic plane. These two parameters may be indicative of origin, and we find them to be correlated. We also find them to be correlated with metallicity, another parameter suggested elsewhere to be a marker for origin in that high values of any of these two parameters generally indicates a low metallicity ([Fe/H] Solar$<-$0.2 dex). The resulting analysis points to four open clusters in the catalogue being of extra-Galactic origin by impact of high velocity cloud on the disk: Berkeley21, 32, 99, and Melotte66, with a possible further four due to this origin (NGC2158, 2420, 7789, IC1311). A further three may be due to Galactic globular cluster impact on the disk i.e of internal Galactic origin (NGC6791, 1817, and 7044).

14 pages, 816 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS 14-May-2010

References in corpus (13)

• Local Kinematics and the Local Standard of Rest
• The PPMXL catalog of positions and proper motions on the ICRS. Combining USNO-B1.0 and 2MASS
• The Second-Generation Guide Star Catalog: Description and Properties
• The Third US Naval Observatory CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC3)
• The Origin of the Bifurcation in the Sagittarius Stream
• The evolution of the Galactic metallicity gradient from high-resolution spectroscopy of open clusters
• Old open clusters in the outer Galactic disk
• The orbits of open clusters in the Galaxy
• Open Clusters as Galactic Disk Tracers: I. Project Motivation, Cluster Membership and Bulk Three-Dimensional Kinematics
• On the current status of open-cluster parameters
• Is Ursa Major II the Progenitor of the Orphan Stream?
• The velocity distribution of nearby stars from Hipparcos data I. The significance of the moving groups
• UCAC3: Astrometric Reductions

Cited by in corpus (33)

• A Gaia DR2 view of the Open Cluster population in the Milky Way
• Extended stellar systems in the solar neighborhood -- V. Discovery of coronae of nearby star clusters
• Gaia Early Data Release 3: The Galactic anticentre
• Characterising Open Clusters in the solar neighbourhood with the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution
• The evolution of the Milky Way: New insights from open clusters
• The Sun was not born in M 67
• The origin and orbit of the old, metal-rich, open cluster NGC 6791: Insights from kinematics
• Global survey of star clusters in the Milky Way IV. 63 new open clusters detected by proper motions
• Gravitational scattering of stars and clusters and the heating of the Galactic disk
• The kinematics of the white dwarf population from the SDSS DR12
• The age-metallicity relation in the solar neighbourhood from a pilot sample of white dwarf-main sequence binaries
• Barium and Yttrium abundance in intermediate-age and old open clusters
• The birthplace and age of the isolated neutron star RX J1856.5-3754
• Heterogeneity of the Population of Open Star Clusters in the Galaxy
• Abundances and kinematics for ten anticentre open clusters
• Migration in the shearing sheet and estimates for young open cluster migration
• New Neutron-Capture Measurements in 23 Open Clusters. I. The R-Process
• A kinematical age for the interstellar object 1I/'Oumuamua
• Two Populations of Open Star Clusters in the Galaxy
• On the Origin of High-Altitude Open Clusters in the Milky Way
• On the Survival of High-Altitude Open Clusters within the Milky Way Galaxy Tides
• The Origin of the Young Pulsar PSR J0826+2637 and Its Possible Former Companion HIP 13962
• Detailed chemical abundance analysis of the thick disk star cluster Gaia 1
• Discovery and description of two young open clusters in the primordial group of NGC 6871
• $\text{Siriusly}$, a newly identified intermediate-age Milky Way stellar cluster: A spectroscopic study of $\text{Gaia}$ 1
• Spectroscopic confirmation of the low-latitude object FSR 1716 as an old globular cluster
• Gravitational interactions between globular and open clusters: an introduction
• The Rotation Period Distribution in the Young Open Cluster NGC 6709
• New Radial Velocities for 30 Candidate Runaway Stars and a Possible Binary Supernova Origin for HIP 9470 and PSR J0152-1637
• Peculiarities of α-element abundances in Galactic open clusters
• Open superclusters I: The most populated primordial groups of open clusters in the third quadrant of the Galactic disc
• Young Open Star Clusters: The Spatial Distribution of Metallicity in the Solar Neighborhood
• Peculiarities of the abundances of neutron-capture elements in Galactic open clusters