Newly detected open clusters in the Galactic disk using Gaia EDR3^⋆

¹ Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210023, PR China
e-mail: xuye@pmo.ac.cn
² School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China
³ National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, PR China
⁴ School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, PR China

Received: 12 January 2022
Accepted: 24 January 2022

Abstract

The astrometric satellite Gaia recently released part of its third data set, which provides a good opportunity to hunt for more open clusters in the Milky Way. In this work, we conduct a blind search for open clusters in the Galactic disk using a sample-based clustering search method with high spatial resolution, which is especially suited to finding hidden targets. In addition to confirming 1930 previously known open clusters and 82 known globular clusters, 704 new stellar clusters are proposed as potential open clusters at Galactic latitudes of |b|≤20°. For each of these new open clusters, we present the coordinates, detailed astrometric parameters, and ages, as well as the radial velocity, if available. Our blind search greatly increases the number of Galactic open clusters as objects of study and shows the incompleteness of the open cluster census across our Galaxy.