Characterizing star cluster formation with WISE: 652 newly found star clusters and candidates

TL;DR

This study reports the discovery of 652 new star clusters and candidates in the Milky Way using WISE, revealing diverse sizes and evidence of multiple stellar generations during embedded phases.

Contribution

It significantly expands the catalog of known star clusters with 652 new objects, providing insights into star formation processes and cluster characteristics.

Findings

Most objects are embedded clusters near the Galactic Plane.

Star formation spans a wide range of sizes and structures.

Confirmed several candidates as embedded clusters through detailed analysis.

Abstract

We report the discovery of 652 star clusters, stellar groups and candidates in the Milky Way with WISE. Most of the objects are projected close to Galactic Plane and are embedded clusters. The present sample complements a similar study (Paper I) which provided 437 star clusters and alike. We find evidence that star formation processes span a wide range of sizes, from populous dense clusters to small compact embedded ones, sparse stellar groups or in relative isolation. The present list indicates multiple stellar generations during the embedded phase, with giant molecular clouds collapsing into several clumps composing an embedded cluster aggregate. We investigate the field star decontaminated Colour Magnitude Diagrams and Radial Density Profiles of 9 cluster candidates in the list, and derive their parameters, confirming them as embedded clusters.