Stellar contents and Star formation in the young cluster Stock 18

TL;DR

This study provides a detailed analysis of the young star cluster Stock 18, including its fundamental parameters, stellar content, and star formation activity, using deep photometry and infrared data.

Contribution

It offers new estimates of the cluster's distance, age, and mass function, and investigates star formation processes and the youth of the surrounding region.

Findings

Distance to the cluster is 2.8 kpc.

Age of the cluster is approximately 6 Myr.

Presence of very young stars (1-2 Myr) around the cluster.

Abstract

We have carried out deep (V$\sim$21 mag) \ubvri photometric study of the star cluster Stock 18. These along with archival Infrared data have been used to derive the basic cluster parameters and also to study the star formation processes in and around the cluster region. The distance to the cluster is derived as 2.8$\pm$0.2 kpc while its age is estimated as $6.0\pm2.0$ Myr. Present study indicates that interstellar reddening is normal in the direction of the cluster. The mass function slope is found to be -1.37$\pm$0.27 for the mass range 1$<M/M_\odot<$11.9. There is no evidence found for the effect of mass segregation in main-sequence stars of the cluster. A young stellar population with age between 1-2 Myr have been found in and around the cluster region. The presence of IRAS and AKARI sources with MSX intensity map also show the youth of the Sh2-170 region.