How old is the Hyades?
The Hyades underpins our understanding of stellar ages. If its age is wrong then a lot of other ages are wrong too…
Just how far away is the Pleiades?
The Pleiades is one of the most well-known open clusters visible with the naked eye from Earth. But just how far away is the cluster? New results help determine a more accurate distance and suggest a troubling error in a previous study.
UR #9: Clusters Galore!
The undergrad research posts continue! This month’s post discusses two types of clusters: clusters of galaxies, and open clusters of stars in our own galaxy.
Two ‘b’s in the Beehive
Presented here are the results from a recent survey of the Beehive cluster where two hot Jupiter planets were discovered. These are the first hot Jupiters to be discovered in an open cluster. Not only does this discovery prove that exoplanets do in fact exist in open clusters, but future studies will help provide more precise measurements of exoplanet characteristics.