We study the motions inside 28 OB-associations with the use of Gaia DR2 proper motions. The average velocity dispersion calculated for 28 OB-associations including more than 20 stars with Gaia DR2 proper motion is sigma_v =4.5 km s-1. The median virial and stellar masses of OB-associations are M_vir=8.9 x 10^5 and M_st=8.1 x 10^3 Ms, respectively. The median star-formation efficiency in parent giant molecular clouds appears to be epsilon=1.2 per cent. Gaia DR2 proper motions confirm the expansion in the Per OB1, Car OB1 and Sgr OB1 associations found earlier with Gaia DR1 data. We also detect the expansion in Gem OB1, Ori OB1 and Sco OB1 associations which became possible for the first time now when analyzed with Gaia DR2 proper motions. The analysis of the distribution of OB-stars in the Per OB1 association shows the presence of a shell-like structure with the radius of 40 pc. Probably, the expansion of the Per OB1 association started with the velocity greater than the present-day expansion velocity equal to 5.0 +\- 1.7 km s-1.
We calculated the median parallaxes for 47 OB associations including at least 10 stars with known Gaia DR2 parallaxes. A comparison between trigonometric and photometric parallaxes of OB associations reveals a zero-point offset of delta_pi=-0.11 +\- 0.04 mas indicating that Gaia DR2 parallaxes are, on average, underestimated and the distances derived from them are overestimated. The correction of delta_pi=-0.11 mas is consistent with the estimate that Arenou et al. (2018) obtained for bright stars. An analysis of parallaxes of OB associations and high-luminosity field stars confirms our previo…
The kinematic properties of the Scorpius-Centaurus association were studied using spatial velocities of approximately 700 young T Tauri stars. Their proper motions and trigonometric parallaxes were selected by Zari et al. from the Gaia DR2 catalog, and radial velocities were taken from various sources. The linear expansion coefficients new estimate of the association $K=39\pm2$ km/s/kpc is obtained by considering the influence of the galactic spiral density wave with an amplitude of radial disturbances $f_R=5$ km/s and solar phase in the wave $-120^\circ$. The proper rotation of the associatio…
The distribution of young stars into OB associations has long been in need of updating. High-precision {\sl Gaia} early Data Release 3 astrometry, coupled with modern machine-learning methods, allows this to be done. We have compiled a well-defined sample which includes OB stars and young open clusters, in total comprising about 47,700 objects. To break the sample down into groupings resembling associations, we applied the HDBSCAN$^{*}$ clustering algorithm. We used a Monte Carlo method to estimate the kinematic ages of the resulting clusters and the Student's $t$-test to assess the significan…
We use stellar proper motions from the TGAS catalog to study the kinematics of OB-associations. The TGAS proper motions of OB-associations generally agree well with the Hipparcos proper motions. The parameters of the Galactic rotation curve obtained with TGAS and Hipparcos proper motions agree within the errors. The average one-dimensional velocity dispersion inside 18 OB-associations with more than 10 TGAS stars is sigma_v=3.9 km s-1, which is considerably smaller, by a factor of 0.4, than the velocity dispersions derived from Hipparcos data. The effective contribution from orbital motions of…
The first Gaia Data Release presents an opportunity to characterise the low-mass population of OB associations, providing larger statistical samples and better constraints on the formation and evolution of clusters and associations. Using previously known low mass members in a small region of Vela OB2 we have designed selection criteria that combine Gaia and 2MASS photometry, independently of any astrometric information, to identify low-mass pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars over the wider association area. Our method picks out the known clusters of young stars around $γ^2$ Velorum and NGC-2547, b…
The Young Local Associations constitute an excellent sample for the study of a variety of astrophysical topics, especially the star formation process in low-density environments. Data from the Gaia mission allows us to undertake studies of the YLAs with unprecedented accuracy. We determine the dynamical age and place of birth of a set of associations in a uniform and dynamically consistent manner. There are nine YLAs in our sample $ε$ Chamaeleontis, TW Hydrae, $β$ Pictoris, Octans, Tucana-Horologium, Columba, Carina, Argus and AB Doradus. We designed a method for deriving the dynamical age of …
We present and discuss photometric optical data in the area of the OB association Sco OB1 covering about 1 squared degree. UBVI photometry is employed in tandem with Gaia DR2 data to investigate the 3 dimensional structure and the star formation history of the region. By combining parallaxes and proper motions we identify 7 physical groups located between the young open cluster NGC 6231 and the bright nebula IC4628. The most prominent group coincides with the sparse open cluster Trumpler 24. We confirm the presence of the intermediate age star cluster VdB-Hagen 202, which is unexpected in this…
In this review I discuss different theories of the formation of OB associations in the Milky Way, and provide the observational evidences in support of them. In fact, the second release of Gaia astrometric data (April 2018) is revolutionising the field, because it allows us to unravel the 3D structure and kinematics of stellar associations with unprecedented details by providing precise distances and a solid membership assessment. As an illustration, I summarise some recent studies on three OB associations: Cygnus OB2, Vela OB2, and Scorpius OB1, focussing in more detail to Sco OB1. A multi-wa…
We estimated the contribution of binary systems to the velocity dispersion inside OB-associations derived from Gaia DR2 proper motions. The maximum contribution to the velocity dispersion is given by the systems with the period of revolution of P=5.9 yr whose components shift by a distance of about the diameter of the system during the base-line time of Gaia DR2 observations. We employed two methods to study the motion of the photocenter of the binary system: the first one uses the total displacement between the initial and final visibility periods and the second one is based on solving a syst…
We use Gaia DR2 data to survey the classic Monoceros OB1 region and look for the existence of a dispersed young population, co-moving with the cloud complex. An analysis of the distribution of proper motions reveals a 20-30 Myr association of young stars, about 300-400 pc away from the far side of the Mon OB1 complex, along the same general line-of-sight. We characterize the new association, Monoceros OB4, and estimate it contains between 1400 and 2500 stars, assuming a standard IMF, putting it on par in size with NGC\,2264. We find from the internal proper motions that Mon OB4 is unbound and …
We use the proper motions (PM) of half a million red giant stars in Large Magellanic Cloud measured by Gaia to construct a 2d kinematic map of mean PM and its dispersion across the galaxy, out to 7 Kpc from its centre. We then explore a range of dynamical models and measure the rotation curve, mean azimuthal velocity, velocity dispersion profiles, and the orientation of the galaxy. We find that the circular velocity reaches 90 km/s at 5 Kpc, and that the velocity dispersion ranges from 30-40 km/s in the galaxy centre to 15-20 km/s at 7 Kpc.
Historically, it has often been asserted that most stars form in compact clusters. In this scenario, present-day gravitationally-unbound OB associations are the result of the expansion of initially gravitationally-bound star clusters. However, this paradigm is inconsistent with recent results, both theoretical and observational, that instead favour a hierarchical picture of star formation in which stars are formed across a continuous distribution of gas densities and most OB associations never were bound clusters. Instead they are formed in-situ as the low-density side of this distribution, ra…
OB associations, birthplaces of the most luminous stars, are key objects for understanding the formation of high-mass stars and their effects on their environments. The aim of this work is to explore the structure and kinematics of the Cepheus OB2 association and characterize the history of star formation in the region -- in particular, the role of the Cepheus Bubble, surrounding Cepheus OB2. Based on \gaia\ DR3 data we study the spatial and age distribution and kinematics of young stars in the region. We select candidate pre-main-sequence stars in the $M_\mathrm{G}$ vs. \gbp$-$\grp\ colour-ma…
We study the stellar kinematic properties and spatial distribution of the association Cyg OB3 using precise astrometric data from Gaia DR2. All known O- and B-type stars in Cyg OB3 region with positions, parallaxes and proper motions available are included, comprising a total of 41 stars. The majority of stars are found to be concentrated at a heliocentric distance of 2.0 +/- 0.3 kpc. The mean peculiar velocity of the sample after removing Galactic rotation and solar motion is ~22 km/s, dominated by the velocity component towards the Galactic center. The relative position and velocity of the b…
OB associations are the prime star forming sites in galaxies. However the detailed formation process of such stellar systems still remains a mystery. In this context, identifying the presence of substructures may help tracing the footprints of their formation process. Here, we present a kinematic study of the two massive OB associations Cygnus OB2 and Carina OB1 using the precise astrometry from the Gaia Data Release 2 and radial velocities. From the parallaxes of stars, these OB associations are confirmed to be genuine stellar systems. Both Cygnus OB2 and Carina OB1 are composed of a few dens…
We present a kinematic study of the Scorpius-Centaurus (Sco-Cen) OB association (Sco OB2) using Gaia DR1 parallaxes and proper motions. Our goal is to test the classical theory that OB associations are the expanded remnants of dense and compact star clusters disrupted by processes such as residual gas expulsion. Gaia astrometry is available for 258 out of 433 members of the association, with revised Hipparcos astrometry used for the remainder. We use this data to confirm that the three subgroups of Sco-Cen are gravitationally unbound and have non-isotropic velocity dispersions, suggesting they…
Galactic Wolf-Rayet (WR) star membership of star forming regions can be used to constrain the formation environments of massive stars. Here, we utilise $\textit{Gaia}$ DR2 parallaxes and proper motions to reconsider WR star membership of clusters and associations in the Galactic disk, supplemented by recent near-IR studies of young massive clusters. We find that only 18$-$36% of 553 WR stars external to the Galactic Centre region are located in clusters, OB associations or obscured star-forming regions, such that at least 64% of the known disk WR population are isolated, in contrast with only …
I have used high-precision photometry and astrometry from the third data release of Gaia (DR3) to perform a survey for members of the Taurus star-forming region and young associations in its vicinity. This work has produced a new catalog of 532 adopted members of Taurus, which has only minor changes relative to the previous catalog from Esplin & Luhman 2019. I have used the Gaia astrometry to divide the Taurus members into 13 groups that have distinct kinematics. Meanwhile, I have identified 1378 candidate members of seven associations near Taurus. All of these associations have histograms of …
Open clusters and associations are groups of young stars, respectively bound and unbound, that share the same origin and disperse over time into the galactic field. As such, their formation and evolution are the key to understand the origin and properties of galactic stellar populations. Moreover, since their members have about the same age, they are ideal laboratories to study the properties of young stars and constrain stellar evolution theories. In this contribution, I present our current knowledge on open clusters and associations. I focus on the methods used to derive the statistical prop…
For the first time, we have explored the spatial substructure of the Cygnus OB2 association using parallaxes from the recent second Gaia data release. We find significant line-of-sight substructure within the association, which we quantify using a parameterised model that reproduces the observed parallax distribution. This inference approach is necessary due to the non-linearity of the parallax-distance transformation and the asymmetry of the resulting probability distribution. By using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo ensemble sampler and an unbinned maximum likelihood test we identify two differen…
Stellar ages are key to improving our understanding of different astrophysical phenomena. However, many techniques to estimate stellar ages are highly model-dependent. The lithium depletion boundary (LDB), based on the presence or absence of lithium in low-mass stars, can be used to derive ages in stellar associations of between 20 and 500~Ma. The purpose of this work is to revise former LDB ages in stellar associations in a consistent way, taking advantage of the homogeneous \textit{Gaia} parallaxes as well as bolometric luminosity estimations that do not rely on monochromatic bolometric corr…
It is often stated that star clusters are the fundamental units of star formation and that most (if not all) stars form in dense stellar clusters. In this monolithic formation scenario, low density OB associations are formed from the expansion of gravitationally bound clusters following gas expulsion due to stellar feedback. $N$-body simulations of this process show that OB associations formed this way retain signs of expansion and elevated radial anisotropy over tens of Myr. However, recent theoretical and observational studies suggest that star formation is a hierarchical process, following …
Line-of-sight kinematic studies indicate that many Galactic globular clusters have a significant degree of internal rotation. However, three-dimensional kinematics from a combination of proper motions and line-of-sight velocities are needed to unveil the role of angular momentum in the formation and evolution of these old stellar systems. Here we present the first quantitative study of internal rotation on the plane-of-the-sky for a large sample of globular clusters using proper motions from Gaia DR2. We detect signatures of rotation in the tangential component of proper motions for 11 out of …
We use stellar proper motions (PM) from Gaia Data Release 2 for studying the internal kinematics of Milky Way globular clusters. In addition to statistical measurement errors, there are significant spatially correlated systematic errors, which cannot be ignored when studying the internal kinematics. We develop a mathematically consistent procedure for incorporating the spatial correlations in any model-fitting approach, and use it to determine rotation and velocity dispersion profiles of a few dozen clusters. We confirm detection of rotation in the sky plane for ~10 clusters reported in previo…
We have refined the census of stars and brown dwarfs in the Upper Sco association (~10 Myr, ~145 pc) by 1) updating the selection of candidate members from our previous survey to include the high-precision astrometry from the second data release of Gaia, 2) obtaining spectra of a few hundred candidate members to measure their spectral types and verify their youth, and 3) assessing the membership (largely with Gaia astrometry) of 2020 stars toward Upper Sco that show evidence of youth in this work and previous studies. We arrive at a catalog of 1761 objects that are adopted as members of Upper …
Stellar kinematics provides the key to understanding star formation process. In this respect, we present a kinematic study of the Monoceros OB1 (Mon OB1) and R1 (Mon R1) associations using the recent Gaia data and radial velocities of stars derived from high-resolution spectroscopy and the literature. A total of 728 members are selected using the criteria based on the intrinsic properties of young stars, parallaxes, and proper motions. The spatial distribution and kinematic properties of members show that these associations have distinct substructures. In Mon OB1, we find one northern group an…
The Gaia mission has opened a new window into the internal kinematics of young star clusters at the sub-km/s level, with implications for our understanding of how star clusters form and evolve. We use a sample of 28 clusters and associations with ages from 1-5 Myr, where lists of members are available from previous X-ray, optical, and infrared studies. Proper motions from Gaia DR2 reveals that at least 75% of these systems are expanding; however, rotation is only detected in one system. Typical expansion velocities are on the order of ~0.5 km/s, and, in several systems, there is a positive rad…
I have used high-precision photometry and astrometry from the third data release of Gaia (DR3) to identify candidate members of the 32 Ori association. Spectral types and radial velocities have been measured for subsets of the candidates using new and archival spectra. For the candidates that have radial velocity measurements, I have used UVW velocities to further constrain their membership, arriving at a final catalog of 169 candidates. I estimate that the completeness of the survey is ~90% for spectral types of <=M7 (>=0.06 Msun). The histogram of spectral types for the 32 Ori candidates exh…
The Cygnus OB2 Association is one of the nearest and largest collections of massive stars in the Galaxy. Situated at the heart of the "Cygnus X" complex of star-forming regions and molecular clouds, its distance has proven elusive owing to the ambiguous nature of kinematic distances along this $\ell\simeq80$ degree sightline and the heavy, patchy extinction. In an effort to refine the three-dimensional geometry of key Cygnus~X constituents, we have measured distances to four eclipsing double-lined OB-type spectroscopic binaries that are probable members of Cyg~OB2. We find distances of $1.33\p…
The open cluster IC 4996 in Cygnus and its vicinity are investigated by applying a two-dimensional photometric classification of stars measured in the Vilnius seven-color photometric system. Cluster members are identified by applying distances based on the Gaia DR2 parallaxes and the point vector diagram of the Gaia DR2 proper motions. For some B-type stars, spectroscopic MK types are also obtained from the Asiago spectra and collected from the literature. New parameters of the cluster are derived. The interstellar extinction $A_V$ covers a wide range of values, from 1.3 to 2.4 mag; the mean v…
Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, CY Cergy Paris Université, CNRS（巴黎天文台，巴黎文理研究大学，索邦大学，巴黎西岱大学，塞吉-蓬图瓦兹大学，法国国家科学研究中心）；Keele University（基尔大学）；University of Vienna, Department of Astrophysics（维也纳大学天体物理学系）；Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona（巴塞罗那大学宇宙科学研究所）；Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS（开普勒行星系统物质宇宙学前沿中心（世界顶尖研究中心），东京大学宇宙线研究所）
利用盖亚卫星数据，通过 HDBSCAN 聚类算法在太阳附近 1 kpc 内识别出 56 个 OB 星协，数量翻倍，并对其物理和运动学特性进行了表征。
Fundamental parameters and physical processes leading to the formation of white dwarfs (WDs) may be constrained and refined by discovering WDs in open clusters (OCs). Cluster membership can be utilized to establish the precise distances, luminosities, ages, and progenitor masses of such WDs. We compile a list of probable WDs that are OC members in order to facilitate WD studies that are impractical or difficult to conduct for Galactic field WDs. We use recent catalogs of WDs and OCs that are based on the second data release of the \textit{Gaia} satellite mission (GDR2) to identify WDs that are…
The precise parallax, proper motion, and photometric measurements contained in Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) offer the opportunity to re-examine the membership and ages of Nearby Young Moving Groups (NYMGs), i.e., loose groups of stars of age $\lesssim100$ Myr in the solar vicinity. Here, we analyze the available DR2 data for members and candidate members of the $ε$ Cha Association ($ε$CA) which, at an estimated age of $\sim$3--5 Myr, has previously been identified as among the youngest NYMGs. The several dozen confirmed members of $ε$CA include MP Mus and T Cha, two of the nearest stars of roughl…
High-contrast imaging studies of debris disks have revealed a significant diversity in their morphologies, including large-scale asymmetries. Theories involving stellar flybys, an external source of gravitational disturbance, have offered a plausible explanation for the origin of these morphological variations. Our study is an experiment to gain empirical evidence that has been lacking from such theories. We explore this paradigm by using astrometric and radial velocity measurements from the Gaia DR2 and ground-based observations to trace the trajectories of 625 stars in the Sco-Cen OB Associa…
We present an analysis of the kinematics of 14 satellites of the Milky Way (MW). We use proper motions (PMs) from the $Gaia$ Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) and line-of-sight velocities ($v_{\mathrm{los}}$) available in the literature to derive the systemic 3D motion of these systems. For six of them, namely the Carina, Draco, Fornax, Sculptor, Sextans, and Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph), we study the internal kinematics projecting the stellar PMs into radial, $V_R$ (expansion/contraction), and tangential, $V_T$ (rotation), velocity components with respect to the centre of mass. We fi…
We present a detailed study of the internal structure and kinematics of the core of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr). Using machine-learning techniques, we have combined the information provided by 3300 RR Lyrae stars, more than 2000 spectroscopically observed stars, and the Gaia second data release to derive the full phase space, i.e. 3D positions and kinematics, of more than $1.2\times10^5$ member stars in the core of the galaxy. Our results show that Sgr has a bar structure $\sim 2.5$ kpc long, and that tidal tails emerge from its tips to form what it is known as the Sgr stream…
We investigate the spatial properties of sources from the GAIA catalogue previously identified as being members of the Taurus star forming region and which appear in the Spitzer catalogue. We study an area of sky of 10x15 deg, centred on Right Ascension (2000.0) = 68.5 deg and Declination (2000.0)= 27.0 deg, this being an area surrounding the Taurus molecular cloud. We use data obtained from the GAIA DR2 release. By using an inversion of GAIA parallax measurements to obtain distance values and by defining limits to the proper motions of the Taurus moving group, we are able to show that there a…
Context: Lupus is recognised as one of the closest star-forming regions, but the lack of trigonometric parallaxes in the pre-Gaia era hampered many studies on the kinematic properties of this region and led to incomplete censuses of its stellar population. Aims: We use the second data release of the Gaia space mission combined with published ancillary radial velocity data to revise the census of stars and investigate the 6D structure of the Lupus complex. Methods: We performed a new membership analysis of the Lupus association based on astrometric and photometric data over a field of 160 deg2 …
We derived the three-dimensional velocities of individual stars in a sample of 62 Galactic globular clusters using proper motions from the second data release of the Gaia mission together with the most comprehensive set of line-of-sight velocities with the aim of investigating the rotation pattern of these stellar systems. We detect the unambiguous signal of rotation in 15 clusters at amplitudes which are well above the level of random and systematic errors. For these clusters, we derived the position and inclination angle of the rotation axis with respect to the line of sight and the overall …
Sco OB2 is the nearest OB association, extending over approximately 2000 sq.deg. on the sky. Only its brightest members are already known (from Hipparcos) across its entire size, while studies of its lower-mass population refer only to small portions of its extent. In this work we exploit the capabilities of Gaia DR2 measurements to search for Sco OB2 members across its entire size and down to the lowest stellar masses. We use both Gaia astrometric and photometric data to select association members, using minimal assumptions derived mostly from the Hipparcos studies. Gaia resolves small detail…
We make use of APOGEE and $Gaia$ data to identify stars that are consistent with being born in the same association or star cluster as the Sun. We limit our analysis to stars that match solar abundances within their uncertainties, as they could have formed from the same Giant Molecular Cloud (GMC) as the Sun. We constrain the range of orbital actions that solar siblings can have with a suite of simulations of solar birth clusters evolved in static and time-dependent tidal fields. The static components of each galaxy model are the bulge, disk, and halo, while the various time-dependent componen…
Most high-resolution spectroscopic studies of the Galactic discs were mostly confined to objects in the solar vicinity. Here we aim at enlarging the volume in which individual chemical abundances are used to characterise both discs, using the first internal data release of the Gaia-ESO survey. We derive and discuss the abundances of eight elements (Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Fe, Cr, Ni, and Y). The trends of these elemental abundances with iron are very similar to those in the solar neighbourhood. We find a natural division between alpha-rich and alpha-poor stars, best seen in the bimodality of the […
We analyze the spatial and kinematic properties of a large sample of young T Tauri type stars in a 500 pc radius solar neighborhood, closely related to the Gould belt. The following parameters of the exponential density distribution have been determined: the average $(z_G)_\odot=-25\pm5$ pc and scale height $h_G=56\pm6$ pc. We propose a method of excluding background stars from the samples, which are located at large heights with respect to the symmetry plane of the Gould belt. We discovered that the expansion effect for the entire star system, $K_G=6\pm1$ km s$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-1}$, is determined…
