Related papers: Habitability in Different Milky Way Stellar Enviro…
Using multi-wavelength imaging from the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope we study the stellar cluster populations of two adjacent fields in the nearby face-on spiral galaxy, M83. The observations cover the galactic centre…
Observations indicate that the fraction of potential binary star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds is about 10%. In contrast, it is widely accepted that the binary cluster frequency in the Galaxy disk is much lower. Here we investigate the…
Stars formed in clusters can encounter other stars at close distances. In typical open clusters in the Solar neighbourhood containing hundreds or thousands of member stars, ten to twenty per cent of Solar-mass member stars are expected to…
Most stars form in highly clustered environments within molecular clouds, but eventually disperse into the distributed stellar field population. Exactly how the stellar distribution evolves from the embedded stage into gas-free associations…
Nuclear star clusters (NSCs) surrounding supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are among the densest stellar environments in the universe. In these environments, collisions can shape the stellar mass function and produce exotic stellar…
During the post-main sequence phase of stellar evolution the orbital distance of the habitable zone, which allows for liquid surface water on terrestrial planets, moves out past the system's original frost line, providing an opportunity for…
Super Star Clusters (Mecl > 10^5 Msol) are the largest stellar nurseries in our local Universe, containing hundreds of thousands to millions of young stars within a few light years. Many of these systems are found in external galaxies,…
Galactic nuclei often harbor a disproportionately large amount of star formation activity with respect to their surrounding disks. Not coincidentally, the density of molecular material in galactic nuclei is often also much greater than that…
We present the first model that couples high-resolution simulations of the formation of Local Group galaxies with calculations of the galactic habitable zone (GHZ), a region of space which has sufficient metallicity to form terrestrial…
We calculate the expected flux profile of comets into the planetary system from the Oort cloud arising from Galactic tides and encounters with molecular clouds. We find that both periodic and sporadic bombardment episodes, with amplitudes…
It remains unclear how galactic environment affects star formation and stellar cluster properties. This is difficult to address in Milky Way-mass galaxy simulations because of limited resolution and less accurate feedback compared to…
The definition of nearby star systems is incomplete without an understanding of the dynamical interaction between the stars and ambient interstellar material. The Sun itself has been immersed in the Local Bubble interior void for millions…
Matter distribution models of the Milky Way galaxy are usually stationary, although there are known to be wave-like perturbations in the disc at $\sim10\%$ level of the total density. Modelling of the overall acceleration field by allowing…
We present a global study of low mass, young stellar object (YSO) surface densities in nearby (< 500 pc) star forming regions based on a comprehensive collection of Spitzer Space Telescope surveys. We show that the distribution of YSO…
In this paper, we present a study about the dynamical effects of the Galaxy on the external region of the Oort Cloud. The aims of this paper are: i) to determine an outer limit for the Oort Cloud; and ii) to analyse the dynamical behaviour…
Comets in the Oort cloud evolve under the influence of internal and external perturbations, such as giant planets, stellar passages, and the galactic tidal field. We aim to study the dynamical evolution of the comets in the Oort cloud,…
We specify the range to which perturbations penetrate a planetesimal system. Such perturbations can originate from massive planets or from encounters with other stars. The latter can have an origin in the star cluster in which the planetary…
The field of astrobiology has made huge strides in understanding the habitable zones around stars (Stellar Habitable Zones) where life can begin, sustain its existence and evolve into complex forms. A few studies have extended this idea by…
We report results on the analysis of eleven new Milky Way open cluster candidates, recently discovered from the detection of stellar overdensities in the Vector Point diagram, by employing extreme deconvolution Gaussian mixture models. We…
We study numerical simulations of satellite galaxy disruption in a potential resembling that of the Milky Way. Our goal is to assess whether a merger origin for the stellar halo would leave observable fossil structure in the phase-space…