Just Like Stars, Open Clusters Can Form Binary Pairs

An extended gaseous finger points to the Pismis 24 open star cluster in this JWST NIRCam image. Stars in a cluster are siblings, having been birthed from the same massive cloud of gas. But clusters themselves can also be siblings arranged in binary pairs, and recent research illuminates their heirarchical nature. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Open star clusters are prevalent stellar structures in the Milky Way. Astronomers think their could be 100,000 of them. But they’re not all the same: some are binary clusters, and within those, there’s a hierarchy based on how they form. Recent research explores the different types and how many of each type is in the Milky Way.

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