A Search for Star Clusters from the HIPPARCOS Data
We present results of a search for nearby star clusters and associationsusing Hipparcos Catalogue data, restricting the sample to stars withparallaxes above 2 mas (d <~ 500 pc). Two new OB associations havebeen identified in the Carina-Vela and Cepheus-Cygnus-Lyra-Vulpecularegions. A very probable new open cluster has been discovered in Carina.The cluster, a Car, named after its brightest member, is young (60 Myr)and nearby (d = 132 pc). However, only seven bona fide members can bedrawn from the Hipparcos data. We report a detection of nine opencluster candidates in the distance range of 150 to 400 pc, and sixpossible associations almost all located within the Gould belt, althoughslightly older than the known nearby associations. In all cases, wepresent Yale theoretical isochrone fits to the color-magnitude diagrams,which indicate a moderate spread of ages between 60 to 200 Myr.Evidently, these young open cluster and association candidates arerelated to the overall distribution of young OB and A-type stars in thesolar neighborhood.
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