Star clusters or asterisms? 2MASS CMD and structural analyses of 15 challenging targets

Abstract

(Abridged) Poorly-populated star clusters may have photometric and structural properties not much different from asterisms, to the point that, in some cases, widely-used databases present conflicting classifications. We investigate the nature of a sample of challenging targets that have been classified either as star clusters or asterisms in different studies. A few objects are studied for the first time.

Accepted by A&A

References in corpus (16)

• A systematic survey for infrared star clusters with |b|<20deg using 2MASS
• Open clusters in dense fields: the importance of field-star decontamination for NGC5715, Lynga4, Lynga9, Trumpler23, Trumpler26 and Czernik37
• Spiral structure in the outer Galactic disk. I. The Third Galactic Quadrant
• On the current status of open-cluster parameters
• Fitting Isochrones to Open Cluster photometric data: A new global optimization tool
• The fate of the pre-main sequence-rich clusters Collinder197 and vdB92: dissolution?
• The edge of the young Galactic disc
• Obscured clusters.I. GLIMPSE30 - Young Milky Way Star Cluster Hosting Wolf-Rayet Stars
• Investigating the borderline between a young star cluster and a small stellar association: a test case with Bochum1
• Structural parameters of star clusters: relations among light, mass and star-count radial profiles and the dependence on photometric depth
• Exploring FSR open cluster candidates within $|\Delta \ell |=20^{\circ }$ of the Galactic anticentre
• An Investigation of 11 previously unstudied open star clusters
• Star clusters in the Sh2-132 complex: clues about the connection between embedded and open clusters
• CCD photometric search for peculiar stars in open clusters. VII. Berkeley 11, Berkeley 94, Haffner 15, Lynga 1, NGC 6031, NGC 6405, NGC 6834 and Ruprecht 130
• The embedded cluster DBSB48 in the nebula Hoffleit18: comparison with Trumpler14
• Characterisation of 15 overlooked Ruprecht clusters with ages within 400Myr and 3Gyr

Cited by in corpus (19)

• Age determination for 269 $Gaia$ DR2 Open Clusters
• A Multi-Band Catalog of 10978 Star Clusters, Associations and Candidates in the Milky Way
• Characterising Open Clusters in the solar neighbourhood with the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution
• A PSF-based Approach to TESS High quality data Of Stellar clusters (PATHOS) -- II. Search for exoplanets in open clusters of the southern ecliptic hemisphere and their frequency
• Tracing the Galactic spiral structure with embedded clusters
• Characterizing star cluster formation with WISE: 652 newly found star clusters and candidates
• The VMC Survey - XII. Star cluster candidates in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Characterizing low contrast Galactic open clusters with GAIA DR2
• Towards a census of the Galactic anticentre star clusters - III: tracing the spiral structure in the Outer Disk
• New Galactic embedded clusters and candidates from a WISE Survey
• Towards a census of the Galactic anticentre star clusters II: exploring lower overdensities
• Enlightening the dynamical evolution of Galactic open clusters: an approach using Gaia DR3 and analytical descriptions
• Discovery of two embedded clusters with WISE in the high Galactic latitude cloud HRK 81.4-77.8
• New detections of embedded clusters in the Galactic halo
• Characterizing dynamical stages of open clusters located in the Sagittarius spiral arm
• Goodness-of-fit test for isochrone fitting in the Gaia era. Statistical assessment of the error distribution
• OB Associations at the Upper End of the Milky Way Luminosity Function
• The IC 5146 star forming complex and its surroundings with 2MASS, WISE and Spitzer
• Confirmation Of Two New Galactic Bulge Globular Clusters: FSR 19 and FSR 25