Related papers: On the Encounter Rate of Open Star Clusters
Nine presently known "young" Galactic globular clusters, which have ages / 3 Gyr smaller than the oldest clusters of similar metallicity, all have RGC > 15 kpc. Furthermore these young globulars are found to have below-average luminosities.…
One of the results of the Milky Way Star Clusters (MWSC) survey by Kharchenko et al. (2013) was the detection of a slight under-density of old (ca. 1 Gyr) clusters within the nearest kilo-parsec from the Sun. This under-density may be due…
We model the dynamics of test binaries in isotropic, multi-mass models of galactic globular clusters. The evolution of binary orbits through the cluster potentials is modeled, including second order diffusion terms, and probabilities for…
We present a comprehensive characterisation of close stellar encounters in the solar vicinity, with a particular focus on placing the predicted fly-by of GJ~710 in context. This star will come extremely close ($0.0621$\,pc or…
Nearby, Galactic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) may affect the terrestrial biota if their radiation is beamed towards the Earth. Compact stellar binary mergers are possible central engines of short GRBs and their rate could be boosted in globular…
Currently clusters/associations of stars are mainly detected as surface density enhancements relative to the background field. While clusters form, their surface density increases. It likely decreases again at the end of the star formation…
Based on our compiled catalogue of fundamental astrophysical parameters for 593 open clusters, we analyze the relations between the chemical composition, spatial positions, Galactic orbital elements, age, and other physical parameters of…
Globular clusters (GCs), the oldest stellar systems observed in the Milky Way, have for long been considered single stellar populations. As such, they provided an ideal laboratory to understand stellar dynamics and primordial star formation…
Cold fronts have been observed in a large number of galaxy clusters. Understanding their nature and origin is of primary importance for the investigation of the internal dynamics of clusters. To gain insight on the nature of these features,…
We report on an extensive series of numerical experiments of binary--binary scattering, analysing the cross--section for close approach during interactions for a range of hard binary parameters of interest in globular cluster cores. We…
We present a catalog of unbound stellar pairs, within 100 pc of the Sun, that are undergoing close, hyperbolic, encounters. The data are drawn from the GAIA EDR3 catalogue, and the limiting factors are errors in the radial distance and…
We study the relationship between the field star formation and cluster formation properties in a large sample of nearby dwarf galaxies. We use optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope and from ground-based telescopes to derive the ages…
In the solar neighborhood, where the typical relaxation timescale is larger than the cosmic age, at least 10\% to 15\% of Sun-like stars have planetary systems with Jupiter-mass planets. In contrast, dense star clusters, charactered by…
We present an analysis of the positions and ages of young star clusters in eight local galaxies to investigate the connection between the age difference and separation of cluster pairs. We find that star clusters do not form uniformly but…
The all-sky Milky Way Star Clusters (MWSC) survey provides uniform and precise ages and other parameters for a variety of clusters in the Solar Neighbourhood. We construct the cluster age distribution, investigate its spatial variations,…
We review many of the basic properties of star cluster systems, and focus in particular on how they relate to their host galaxy properties and ambient environment. The cluster mass and luminosity functions are well approximated by…
Galaxy interactions are known to trigger starbursts. Young massive star clusters formed in interacting galaxies and mergers may become young globular clusters. The ages of these clusters can provide clues about the timing of…
The large majority of extragalactic star cluster studies done to date have essentially used two or three-passband aperture photometry, combined with theoretical stellar population synthesis models, to obtain age estimates. The accuracy to…
We present results from a study of proto-globular cluster candidates in the interacting galaxy system Arp 284 (NGC 7714/5) using data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Previous studies of the Antennae and M51 have suggested that the majority…
We present accurate relative ages for a sample of 55 Galactic globular clusters. The ages have been obtained by measuring the difference between the horizontal branch and the turnoff in two, internally photometrically homogeneous databases.…