Glossary term: Open Cluster
Description: Open clusters are clusters of stars found in our Milky Way and other galaxies. They are thought to be the result of a single star formation event and can consist of many hundreds or even thousands of stars. Open clusters are much less tightly gravitationally bound than globular clusters and, in the Milky Way, are typically found in the galactic disk. This loose binding means that over the course of hundreds of millions of years open clusters gradually dissolve into the general stellar population of the Milky Way. As groups of stars who all share a common age, open clusters make ideal laboratories to study stellar evolution. The Pleiades is perhaps the most famous open cluster in the sky.
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The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
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