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This is a list of open clusters located in the
Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...
. An
open cluster An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, and ...
is a gravitationally bound association of up to a few thousand
star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
s that all formed from the same
giant molecular cloud A molecular cloud, sometimes called a stellar nursery (if star formation is occurring within), is a type of interstellar cloud, the density and size of which permit absorption nebulae, the formation of molecules (most commonly molecular hydrogen, ...
. There are over 1,000 known open clusters in the
Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...
galaxy, but the actual total may be up to ten times higher. The estimated
half-lives Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable at ...
of clusters, after which half the original cluster members will have been lost, range from 150 million to 800 million years, depending on the original density.


See also

*
Lists of astronomical objects This is a list of lists, grouped by type of astronomical object. Solar System * List of Solar System objects * List of gravitationally rounded objects of the Solar System * List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun * List of So ...
*
List of globular clusters This is a list of globular clusters. The apparent magnitude does not include an extinction correction. Milky Way These are globular clusters within the halo of the Milky Way galaxy. The diameter is in minutes of arc as seen from Earth. For re ...
*
Lists of clusters The following are lists of clusters: * List of galaxy groups and clusters * List of open clusters This is a list of open clusters located in the Milky Way. An open cluster is a gravitationally bound association of up to a few thousand stars tha ...


References

{{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System
Open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (YF ...