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Kinematics of the Open Cluster System in the Galaxy
Absolute proper motions and radial velocities of 202 open clusters inthe solar neighborhood, which can be used as tracers of the Galacticdisk, are used to investigate the kinematics of the Galaxy in the solarvicinity, including the mean heliocentric velocity components(u1,u2,u3) of the open cluster system,the characteristic velocity dispersions(σ1,σ2,σ3), Oortconstants (A,B) and the large-scale radial motion parameters (C,D) ofthe Galaxy. The results derived from the observational data of propermotions and radial velocities of a subgroup of 117 thin disk young openclusters by means of a maximum likelihood algorithm are:(u1,u2,u3) =(-16.1+/-1.0,-7.9+/-1.4,-10.4+/-1.5) km s-1,(σ1,σ2,σ3) =(17.0+/-0.7,12.2+/-0.9,8.0+/-1.3) km s-1,(A,B) =(14.8+/-1.0,-13.0+/-2.7) km s-1 kpc-1, and (C,D) =(1.5+/-0.7,-1.2+/-1.5) km s-1 k pc-1. A discussionon the results and comparisons with what was obtained by other authorsis given.
| Spiral structure of the third galactic quadrant and the solution to the Canis Major debate
With the discovery of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal, a galaxy caughtin the process of merging with the Milky Way, the hunt for other suchaccretion events has become a very active field of astrophysicalresearch. The identification of a stellar ring-like structure inMonoceros, spanning more than 100°, and the detection of anoverdensity of stars in the direction of the constellation of CanisMajor (CMa), apparently associated to the ring, has led to thewidespread belief that a second galaxy being cannibalized by the MilkyWay had been found. In this scenario, the overdensity would be theremaining core of the disrupted galaxy and the ring would be the tidaldebris left behind. However, unlike the Sagittarius dwarf, which is wellbelow the Galactic plane and whose orbit, and thus tidal tail, is nearlyperpendicular to the plane of the Milky Way, the putative CMa galaxy andring are nearly co-planar with the Galactic disc. This severelycomplicates the interpretation of observations. In this Letter, we showthat our new description of the Milky Way leads to a completelydifferent picture. We argue that the Norma-Cygnus spiral arm defines adistant stellar ring crossing Monoceros and the overdensity is simply aprojection effect of looking along the nearby local arm. Our perspectivesheds new light on a very poorly known region, the third Galacticquadrant, where CMa is located.
| Deep Astrometric Standards and Galactic Structure
The advent of next-generation imaging telescopes, such as the LargeSynoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and the Panoramic Survey Telescope andRapid Response System (Pan-STARRS), has revitalized the need for deepand precise reference frames. The proposed weak-lensing observationswith these facilities put the highest demands on image quality over wideangles on the sky. It is particularly difficult to achieve asubarcsecond point-spread function on stacked images, where preciseastrometry plays a key role. Current astrometric standards areinsufficient to achieve the science goals of these facilities. We thuspropose the establishment of a few selected deep (V=25) astrometricstandards (DAS). These will enable a reliable geometric calibration ofsolid-state mosaic detectors in the focal plane of large ground-basedtelescopes, and will make a substantial contribution to ourunderstanding of stellar populations in the Milky Way. In this paper weexamine the need for such standards and discuss the strategy forselecting them and their acquisition and reduction techniques. Thefeasibility of DAS is demonstrated by a pilot study around the opencluster NGC 188, using the Kitt Peak National Observatory 4 m CCD Mosaiccamera, and by Subaru Suprime-Cam observations. The goal of reaching anaccuracy of 5-10 mas in positions and obtaining absolute proper motionsgood to 2 mas yr-1 over a several square-degree area ischallenging, but reachable with the NOAO 4 m telescopes and CCD mosaicimagers, or a similar setup. Our proposed DAS aims to establish fourfields near the Galactic plane, at widely separated coordinates. Inaddition to their utilitarian purpose for DAS, the data we will obtainin these fields will enable fundamental Galactic science in their ownright. The positions, proper motions, and VI photometry of faint starswill address outstanding questions of Galactic disk formation andevolution, stellar buildup, and mass assembly via merger events.
| The young open cluster NGC 2129
The first charge-coupled device UBV(RI)C photometric study inthe area of the doubtful open cluster NGC 2129 is presented. Photometryof a field offset 15 arcmin northwards is also provided, to probe theGalactic disc population towards the cluster. Using star counts, propermotions from the UCAC2 catalogue, colour-magnitude and colour-colourdiagrams, we demonstrate that NGC 2129 is a young open cluster. Thecluster radius is 2.5 arcmin, and across this region we find evidence ofsignificant differential reddening, although the reddening law seems tobe normal towards its direction. Updated estimates of the clusterfundamental parameters are provided. The mean reddening is found to beE(B-V) = 0.80 +/- 0.08 and the distance modulus is (m-M)0=11.70 +/- 0.30. Hence, NGC 2129 is located at 2.2 +/- 0.2 kpc from theSun inside the Local spiral arm. The age derived from 37 photometricallyselected members is estimated to be approximately 10 Myr. These starsare used to provide new estimates of the cluster absolute proper-motioncomponents.
| Astrophysical parameters of Galactic open clusters
We present a catalogue of astrophysical data for 520 Galactic openclusters. These are the clusters for which at least three most probablemembers (18 on average) could be identified in the ASCC-2.5, a catalogueof stars based on the Tycho-2 observations from the Hipparcos mission.We applied homogeneous methods and algorithms to determine angular sizesof cluster cores and coronae, heliocentric distances, mean propermotions, mean radial velocities, and ages. For the first time we derivedistances for 200 clusters, radial velocities for 94 clusters, and agesof 196 clusters. This homogeneous new parameter set is compared withearlier determinations, where we find, in particular, that the angularsizes were systematically underestimated in the literature.
| On the Galactic Disk Metallicity Distribution from Open Clusters. I. New Catalogs and Abundance Gradient
We have compiled two new open cluster catalogs. In the first one, thereare 119 objects with ages, distances, and metallicities available, whilein the second one, 144 objects have both absolute proper motion andradial velocity data, of which 45 clusters also have metallicity dataavailable. Taking advantage of the large number of objects included inour sample, we present an iron radial gradient of about -0.063+/-0.008dex kpc-1 from the first sample, which is quite consistentwith the most recent determination of the oxygen gradient from nebulaeand young stars, about -0.07 dex kpc-1. By dividing clustersinto age groups, we show that the iron gradient was steeper in the past,which is consistent with the recent result from Galactic planetarynebulae data, and also consistent with inside-out galactic diskformation scenarios. Based on the cluster sample, we also discuss themetallicity distribution, cluster kinematics, and space distribution. Adisk age-metallicity relation could be implied by those properties,although we cannot give conclusive result from the age- metallicitydiagram based on the current sample. More observations are needed formetal-poor clusters. From the second catalog, we have calculated thevelocity components in cylindrical coordinates with respect to theGalactic standard of rest for 144 open clusters. The velocitydispersions of the older clusters are larger than those of youngclusters, but they are all much smaller than that of the Galactic thickdisk stars.
| Proper Motions of Open Star Clusters and the Rotation Rate of the Galaxy
The mean proper motions of 167 Galactic open clusters withradial-velocity measurements are computed from the data of the Tycho-2catalog using kinematic and photometric cluster membership criteria. Theresulting catalog is compared to the results of other studies. The newproper motions are used to infer the Galactic rotation rate at the solarcircle, which is found to be ω0=+24.6±0.8 km s-1 kpc-1.Analysis of the dependence of the dispersion of ω0 estimates onheliocentric velocity showed that even the proper motions of clusterswith distances r>3 kpc contain enough useful information to be usedin kinematic studies demonstrating that the determination of propermotions is quite justified even for very distant clusters.
| On the Precursor Star of the Pulsar in the Crab Nebula
The spatial distribution of the youngest pulsars, with a characteristicage of less than 12,000 years, is considered. All the pulsars except forthe pulsar in the Crab Nebula lie in groups of young OB stars. It issuggested that the precursor of the Crab pulsar was a rapidly rotating,massive OB star. The group of young massive stars from which thefast-moving star was ejected is indicated. Estimates of the age of theprecursor of the Crab pulsar and of the age of the group of young starsfrom which it was ejected favor this hypothesis. It is concluded thatthe fast-moving star must have acquired a high velocity due to thedynamical evolution of the young stellar group.
| Absolute proper motions of open clusters. I. Observational data
Mean proper motions and parallaxes of 205 open clusters were determinedfrom their member stars found in the Hipparcos Catalogue. 360 clusterswere searched for possible members, excluding nearby clusters withdistances D < 200 pc. Members were selected using ground basedinformation (photometry, radial velocity, proper motion, distance fromthe cluster centre) and information provided by Hipparcos (propermotion, parallax). Altogether 630 certain and 100 possible members werefound. A comparison of the Hipparcos parallaxes with photometricdistances of open clusters shows good agreement. The Hipparcos dataconfirm or reject the membership of several Cepheids in the studiedclusters. Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electronic form at theCDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| On the evolutionary status of Be stars
We present a study of the incidence of Be stars in open clusters as afunction of the cluster age, using whenever possible ages determinedthrough Strömgren uvby photometry. For the first time in studies ofthis kind we have considered separately classical and Herbig Be stars.The main results can be summarized as follows: Clusters associated toemitting nebulosities and undergoing stellar formation are rich inemission line objects, which most likely are all pre main-sequencestars. No bona fide classical Be star has yet been identified amongthem. Clusters younger than 10 Myr and without associated nebulosity arealmost completely lacking Be stars, although they have a completeunevolved B main sequence. Classical Be stars appear at an age of 10Myr, and reach the maximum abundance in the age interval 13-25 Myr. Weinterpret our results in the sense that the Be phenomenon is anevolutionary effect which appears in the second half of the mainsequence lifetime of a B star. We propose that it can be related to mainstructural changes happening at this evolutionary phase, which also leadto the recently discovered non-monotonic helium abundance enhancement.The semiconvection or turbulent diffusion responsible of the surfacehelium enrichment, coupled with the high rotational velocity, cangenerate magnetic fields via the dynamo effect and thereby originate theBe phenomenon. Observational tests to this hypothesis are proposed.
| Statistical parallaxes and kinematical parameters of classical Cepheids and young star clusters
The statistical-parallax method is applied for the first time to spacevelocities of 270 classical Cepheids with proper motions adopted fromHIPPARCOS (1997) and TRC (Hog et al. 1998) catalogs and distances basedon the period-luminosity relation by Berdnikov et al. (1996). Thedistance scale of short-period Cepheids (with periods less than 9 days)is shown to require an average correction of 15-20%, whereas statisticalparallaxes of Cepheids with periods > 9 days are found to agree wellwith photometric distances. It is shown that the luminosities ofshort-period Cepheids must have been underestimated partly due to thecontamination of this subsample by a substantial (20 to 40%) fraction offirst-overtone pulsators. The statistical-parallax technique is alsoapplied for the first time to 117 open clusters younger than 100 millionyears and with proper motions reduced to the HIPPARCOS reference system.It is concluded that a 0.12-0.15 mag increase of the distance scales ofopen clusters and Cepheids would be sufficient to reconcile thestatistical-parallax results inferred for these two types of objects.Such approach leads to an LMC distance modulus of less than 18.40 mag,which agrees, within the errors, with the short distance scale for RRLyrae variables and is at variance with the conclusions by Feast andCatchpole (1998) and Feast et al. (1998), who argue that the LMCdistance modulus should be increased to 18.70 mag. The distance scalebased on the Cepheid period-luminosity relation by Berdnikov and Efremov(1985) seems to be a good compromise. Extragalactic distances, whichrely on long-period Cepheids, seem to require no substantial correction.In addition to statistical parallaxes, kinematical parameters have beeninferred for the combined sample consisting of Cepheids andopen-clusters: solar-motion components (U0 ,V0,W0) = (9, 12, 7) km/s (+/- 1 km/s); velocity-ellipsoid axes(σU; σV; σW) = (15.0,10.3, 8.5) km/s (+/- 1 km/s); the angular velocity of rotation of thesubsystem, ω0 = 28.7 +/- 1 km/s/kpc, the Oort constantA = 17.4 +/- 1.5 km/s, and the second derivative of angular velocity,⋰ω0= 1.15 +/- 0.2 km/s/kpc3.
| A 13CO Survey of Molecular Clouds in Gemini and Auriga
A large-scale survey for molecular clouds in 13CO(J = 1-0) was performedtoward the Gemini and Auriga regions (170 deg < l <= 196 deg and-10 deg <= b < 10 deg) with velocity coverages of -30 < VLSR< +30 km s-1 and -20 < VLSR < +40 km s-1 for 170 deg < l<= 188 deg and 188 deg < l <= 196 deg, respectively, by usingthe two 4 m millimeter-wave telescopes at Nagoya University. An area of520 deg2 was covered at an 8' grid spacing with a 2.'7 beam, and 29,250positions were observed. Significant 13CO emission (>=1.2 K km s-1 =3 sigma ) is detected at 1032 positions, and 139 distinct 13CO cloudsare identified. Physical properties such as molecular column density,size, and mass are derived for each cloud. Comparison with known H IIregions and other associated visible objects indicates that 98 of the139 clouds are located at ~2 kpc, while the rest lie at <~ 1 kpc. Thecandidates for protostars are selected from IRAS point sources and 141sources are identified as protostellar candidates associated with the13CO clouds. A statistical study of the 13CO clouds and of thecandidates for protostars shows the following results: 1. The massspectra of the 13CO clouds are well represented by a power law,Ncloud(>=Mcloud) = 1.4 x 104(Mcloud/Mȯ)-0.83 - 1.4 for theclouds at ~2 kpc and Ncloud(>=Mcloud) = 3.5 x102(Mcloud/Mȯ)-0.64 - 2.4 for the rest. 2. The line width, DeltaVcomp, and the size, R, of the 13CO clouds show a power-law relationwith an index 0.24 +/- 0.06, where the dispersion in the fitting isfairly large. 3. A virial analysis made for the 13CO clouds indicatesthat the relation between the virial mass, Mvir, and the mass measuredin 13CO, Mcloud, is aproximated well by (Mvir/Mȯ) = 2.0 x101(Mcloud/Mȯ)0.72, which suggests that smaller clouds tend to bemore weakly bound gravitationally than larger clouds or are dispersingif the external pressure is negligible. This is probably the cuase of asmall index value of the line width-size relation. 4. The luminosityfunction of the IRAS point sources associated with 13CO clouds are wellrepresented by a power law withN_⋆(>=L_⋆)=4.0x102L^{-0.29}_⋆-1.9x10 forthose at ~2 kpc and N_⋆(>=L_⋆)=2.3x10L^{-0.27}_⋆-3.2for the rest. 5. The luminosity of the most luminous IRAS point sourcein a given molecular cloud increases systematically with the mass of theassociated cloud. 6. The 13CO clouds associated with IRAS point sources,which are regarded as ongoing star-forming clouds, tend to be moremassive and larger in size and to have higher column densities thanthose without any sign of star formation. These relations are found tobe consistent with those derived in Cygnus by Dobashi, Bernard, &Fukui and in Cepheus-Cassiopeia by Yonekura et al. In order to study thestar formation activities, we studied the ratio of virial mass and themass measured in 13CO, Mvir/Mcloud, and its relation with starformation. It is clearly seen that the star-forming 13CO clouds have lowMvir/Mcloud, and all the clouds with high Mvir/Mcloud exhibit no sign ofstar formation. This suggests that star formation rarely occurs inclouds with overall kinetic energy higher than the gravitational energy.
| Baldone Schmidt Telescope Plate Archive and Catalogue
The article presents information on the archive and catalogue of theastrophotos taken with the Schmidt telescope of the Institute ofAstronomy of the University of Latvia (until July 1, 1997 --Radioastrophysical Observatory of the Latvian Academy of Sciences) inthe period 1967--1998. The archive and catalogue contain more than 22000direct and 2300 spectral photos of various sky regions. Information onthe types of photo materials and color filters used as well as on mostfrequently photographed sky fields or objects is given. The catalogue isavailable in a computer readable form at the Institute of Astronomy ofthe University of Latvia and at the Astrophysical Observatory in Baldone(Riekstukalns, Baldone, LV-2125, Latvia), e-mail: astra@latnet.lv.
| Schmidt survey in the Galactic anticentre direction. 1. Investigation of open clusters
A study of four open clusters in the direction of the Galacticanticentre (l = 186(deg) , b = +2(deg) ) is presented. In a field of8.32 square degrees proper motions and B magnitudes for about 79000stars down to 19.5 were determined on Tautenburg Schmidt plates. Formore than 15500 of them U magnitudes down to 17.3 could be obtained.Additionally, OCA Schmidt plates were used to determine V, R magnitudesin a larger field of 24.45 square degrees for 271000 stars down to V =18.2. For stars brighter than V = 15.5 an accuracy of about 1.5 mas/yrhas been estimated for proper motions. The rms errors of stellarmagnitudes and colour indices are 0.09 - 0.12 mag. Several open clustershave been already known in this direction of the sky, e.g. NGC 2168 or M35 (C 0605+243), NGC 2158 (C 0604+241) and IC 2157 (C 0601+240).Inspecting the plates and analysing the colour-magnitude diagrams andpublished data, we could identify an additional anonymous cluster C0605+242 with a projection on the sky near the centre of M 35 but at alarger distance from the Sun. The cluster membership determination wascarried out using information on spatial and proper motion distributionsof stars in the field. The colour-magnitude diagrams were derived downto the limiting stellar magnitude. For each cluster the interstellarextinction A_V, the diameters of the core and corona, the ages andspatial velocity components (V, W) relative to the LSR in the Y, Z -Galactic directions were determined. The distances to the clusters of960 pc, 2600 pc, 2520 pc and 3700 pc were obtained for M 35, IC 2157, C0605+242 and NGC 2158. They show the loci of the clusters in the Localand Perseus spiral arms and at external border of Perseus arm,respectively.
| Parameters of open star clusters from uvby-beta photometry.
Not Available
| Absolute proper motions of 181 young open clusters.
Not Available
| Remembering Gemini.
Not Available
| Estimates of geometric and dynamic parameters of star-gas complexes in the Galaxy
Parameters of geometric models of 11 gas-star complexes (GSCs) wereobtained. We used information about GSC projections onto the celestialsphere and the Galactic plane and about GSC extension along the line ofsight. GSCs were represented as triaxial ellipsoids. To estimate thesemiminor axis of the GSC ellipsoidal model and GSC slope angle to theGalactic plane, we used data on spatial location of open stellarclusters (OSCs) entering GSCs. GSC slopes to the Galactic plane varybetween 2.5 and 20.5 deg. Their semiminor axes are between 11 and 164pc. GSC total masses are estimated from GSC tidal effect on OSCs thatare members of the corresponding GSCs. The effect manifests itself insmaller sizes of young OSCs as compared to their tidal sizes in theforce field of the Galaxy. We used studies of stability of an OSC movingin the joint force field of the Galaxy and spheroidal stationary GSC, aswell as studies of evolution of a virialized cluster located at thecenter of a nonstationary ellipsoidal GSC. Estimated total masses fordifferent GSCs lie between 0.65 x 10 exp 5 solar masses and 11.5 x 10exp 7 solar masses.
| Anatomy of the Gemini OB1 molecular cloud complex
We have investigated the large-scale morphology and properties of themolecular gas in the Gem OB1 cloud complex by mapping over 32 sq deg(177 pc x 221 pc) of the complex in (12)CO(J = 1-0) and (13)CO(J = 1-0)at 50 arcsec sampling with QUARRY on the FCRAO 14 m telescope. The moststriking characteristic of the molecular line images are the series ofarc- and ring-shaped structures found on spatial scales from a fewparsecs in diameter up to at least 35 pc. The morphology and in someinstances the kinematics suggest that these features represent swept-upmolecular material, most likely from expanding H II regions and windblown bubbles. The kinetic temperatures and column densities of themolecular gas were derived from the (12)CO and (13)CO data using theLocal Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE) analysis. Most of the moleculargas was found to have kinetic temperatures of less than or approximatelyequal to 10 K, and 50% of the mass of gas is contained in lines of sightwith H2 column densities less than or approximately equal to 2 x1021/sq cm. It was found that only 10% of the molecular massis contained in lines of sight with column densities in excess of1022/sq cm, and that these regions are found almostexclusively near the massive star forming regions within the arcs andrings of molecular gas. The average H2 densities in areas with (13)COemission are between 65-120/cu cm, consistent with previous studies ofcloud complexes, and is independent of whether the regions containsmassive star formation or not. For the Gem OB1 complex as a whole, theaverage H 2 density is 1.2/cu cm, which is only a few time the averageatomic hydrogen density in the interstellar medium. We suggest anoverall picture for the Gem OB1 complex in which most of the moleculargas is contained in relatively cold, low column density molecularmaterial. The high column density regions in the Gem OB1 complex formthrough the external compression of the molecular gas by the winds and HII regions from newly formed massive stars. Thus once massive starrformation is initiated, the structure and further evolution of the cloudcomplex is largely a result of the interactions of expanding H IIregions and stellar winds with the ambient molecular material.
| Catalogue of blue stragglers in open clusters.
An extensive survey of blue straggler candidates in galactic openclusters of both hemispheres is presented. The blue stragglers wereselected considering their positions in the cluster colour-magnitudediagrams.They were categorized according to the accuracy of thephotometric measurements and membership probabilities. An amount of 959blue straggler candidates in 390 open clusters of all ages wereidentified and classified. A set of basic data is given for everycluster and blue straggler. The information is arranged in the form of acatalogue. Blue stragglers are found in clusters of all ages. Thepercentage of clusters with blue stragglers generally grows with age andrichness of the clusters. The mean ratio of the number of bluestragglers to the number of cluster main sequence stars is approximatelyconstant up to a cluster age of about 10^8.6^ yr and rises for olderclusters. In general, the blue stragglers show a remarkable degree ofcentral concentration.
| Uvby-beta photometry of open clusters. IV. NGC 1444, NGC 1662, NGC 2129, NGC 2169 and NGC 7209.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1994RMxAA..28..139P&db_key=AST
| UVBY-beta photometry of the open clusters NGC 1662 and NGC 2129.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1994RMxAA..29..125P
| Integrated photometric properties of open clusters
Galactic open clusters provide an abundant sample of stellar aggregatesof various sizes, ages and metal abundances, apt to constitute atemplate for comparison with star systems in other galaxies. In thispaper we present and discuss a standard methodology to synthesize U,B,Vfluxes and colours, and apply it to a set of 138 open clusters. Resultsare compared with previous ones available in the literature. We wereable to calibrate a mass-luminosity relation by which we evaluated themass of ~400 open clusters, leading to a well defined present-day massfunction. The number-complete sample of galactic open clusters presentedin Battinelli & Capuzzo-Dolcetta (1991) is enlarged of a 15%.
| The behaviour of extinction and the relation to CO column densities in a region around NGC 2129.
Not Available
| More radial-velocity measurements in young open clusters
Further high resolution radial-velocity measurements are reported in 23young open clusters using the Kitt Peak CCD coude spectrograph on the0.9-m feed telescope. The radial velocities for the cluster stars arederived with the technique of cross correlation. The internal precisionof the velocity measurements is typically 2 km/s for early type stars.From these new data and previously published velocities, the observedstars in two clusters, NGC 663 and NGC 2287, were found to show arelatively small dispersion in the measured mean velocities. Furtherobservations of stars in young clusters will be useful in helping toestablish an early-type-star-velocity standard system.
| Formation and evolutionary properties of the Galactic open cluster system
Results are reported from a statistical analysis of observational dataon 100 open clusters within 2 kpc of the sun, selected from the catalogof Lynga (1987). The selection criteria and the completeness of thesample are discussed; the data are compiled in a table; and the analysisresults are presented in a series of graphs and characterized in detail.A cluster formation rate of 0.45 clusters/kpc Myr is found,significantly lower than the rates determined previously (using clusterswithin 1 kpc of the sun) and corresponding to a cluster star-formationefficiency of 0.0063. The low average cluster lifetime (about 10 Myr)suggests that clusters are formed as unstable systems.
| A CO survey of regions around 34 open clusters. II - Physical properties of cataloged molecular clouds
The physical properties of the 148 molecular clouds found in a CO surveyof regions around 34 young open clusters have been examined. Expressionsare given for the cloud size spectrum and the mass spectrum. Themass-radius relation implies that clouds of all size larger than a fewpc have about the same mean volume density. Power laws with slopes of0.6 and 3 describe, respectively, the relations of CO linewidth andcloud mass to cloud size. The clouds are distinctly nonspherical andappear to be randomly oriented with respect to the Galactic plane. Theobservations can be explained by a model for molecular clouds in whichclouds are ensembles of dense clumps of gas. Based on such a model, itis shown that molecular clouds are perturbed on a time scale shortcompared to the time required for them to reestablish virialequilibrium.
| The area of the galactic anticentre in the context of the MEGA project.
Not Available
| A CO survey of regions around 34 open clusters
Results are presented from a systematic search for CO emission fromregions around 34 young open clusters in the outer Galaxy. The clustershave well-determined distances ranging from about 1 to 5 kpc and agesnot greater than about 100 Myr. It was found that some moderately youngclusters have no associated CO emission. All the surveyed clustersyounger than about 5 Myr have associated with them at least onemolecular cloud more massive than 10,000 solar mass, while the molecularclouds associated with clusters older than about 10 Myr are not moremassive than a few thousands solar masses. It was also found thatmolecular clouds are receding from young clusters at a rate of about 10km/sec, and that they seem to be destroyed by their interaction with thestars. Sites of ongoing star formation were identified in a number ofclouds associated with young clusters.
| Radial-velocity measurements in 20 young open clusters
The further results of a program to determine the radial velocities ofyoung open clusters are presented. Using the KPNO coude spectrographcoupled with the 1-m feed and 2.1-m telescopes, radial velocities havebeen measured for nearly one hundred stars, most of which are ofspectral type B and A, in 20 young clusters. The combination ofinstruments and the use of cross-correlation techniques show that radialvelocities of B and A type stars as faint as 10th magnitude can bedetermined with an internal precision of less than about 2 km/s. Asexpected, the uncertainties in the velocity determination for the youngclusters are dominated by spectroscopic binary stars in these clusters.A third of the stars in the sample are found to be spectroscopicbinaries, but with a large variation in the frequency of binaries fromcluster to cluster. Because the time coverage is still limited, thisshould be considered a lower limit to the binary frequency. Clustervelocities are determined after eliminating binaries and known nonmemberstars. The new velocities are compared with a model galactic rotationcurve, as well as with previous velocity determinations.
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