MASSCLEAN logo, copyright Bogdan Popescu and Margaret Hanson VISTA Telescope (Image credit ESO) LSST logo. (Image credit: LSST Corporation, Bryn Feldman)
    
                 
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  Publications
 
       
  2014 A&A, 569, 24   New galactic star clusters discovered in the VVV survey. Candidates projected on the inner disk and bulge  
    J. Borissova et al, including M.M. Hanson and B. Popescu, 2014, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 569, 24  
       
       
  2014 AAS, 223, 442.09   Using MASSCLEAN to Describe Stellar Clusters Found in the Vista Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) Survey  
    Bogdan Popescu, M.M. Hanson, J. Borissova, R. Kurtev, V.D. Ivanov, S.S. Larsen, M. Catelan, D. Minniti, P. Lucas, 2013  
    American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #223, #442.09  
       
       
  2013 AAS, 222, 117.04   The Mass of the Most Massive Star in Stellar Clusters Determined from 25 Million MASSCLEAN Monte Carlo Simulations  
    Bogdan Popescu, M.M. Hanson, J. Borissova, R. Kurtev, V.D. Ivanov, S.S. Larsen, M. Catelan, D. Minniti, P. Lucas, 2013  
    American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #222, #117.04  
       
       
  2013 AAS, 221, 250.33   Age Determination of VVV Clusters from 5 Million Monte Carlo Simulations  
    Bogdan Popescu, M.M. Hanson, J. Borissova, R. Kurtev, V.D. Ivanov, S.S. Larsen, M. Catelan, D. Minniti, P. Lucas, 2013  
    American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #221, #250.33  
       
       
  2012 A&A, 537, 107   VVV DR1: The first data release of the Milky Way bulge and southern plane from the near-infrared ESO public survey VISTA variables in the Vía Láctea  
    R.K. Saito et al, including M.M. Hanson and B. Popescu, 2012, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 537, 107  
       
       
  2011 BAAA, 54, 265   The VVV Survey of the Milky Way: First Year Results  
    D. Minniti et al, including M.M. Hanson and B. Popescu, 2011, Boletín de la Asociación Argentina de Astronomía, vol.54, p.265-276  
       
 
  
  

 

 
  
VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) is one of the six ESO Public Surveys selected to operate with the new 4-meter VISTA Telescope. VVV is scanning the Milky Way bulge and an adjacent section of the midplane, where star formation activity is high. The survey will take 1929 hours of observations during five years (2010–2014), covering ~109 point sources across an area of 520 deg2, including 33 known globular and ~350 open clusters. During the First VVV Meeting we discussed the first scientific results of the VVV Survey and planed strategies for the next few years.
 

Fifth VVV Science Meeting, 3-5 April 2014, Concon, Chile
 

 

Third VVV Science Meeting, 22-24 March 2012, Viña del Mar, Chile
   

 

First VVV Science Meeting, 8-10 December 2010, Viña del Mar, Chile
  

 
 

  • One immediate objective of the VVV Survey is to identify variable stars belonging to known star clusters. There are 33 globular clusters and 355 open clusters located in the VVV area. Distances, reddenings, metallicities and ages could be determined with more accuracy.  MASSCLEAN simulated clusters are characterized by a consistent set of parameters: mass, age, distance, metallicity, extinction, radius, spatial distribution, mass segregation, which can be used to better constrains the range of all of these parameters.
 

  • Another immediate objective is to search for new star clusters of different ages and identify their variable star members. Since VISTA is 3-4 mag deeper than 2MASS, it is expected that many new clusters will be discovered.  We are working to test the current search algorithms and to develop a better search algorithm for stellar clusters.

  VVV Clusters and MASSCLEAN CMD Templates
 

 

 

 

  
  Search for Clusters in VVV Survey
  

 
 

  This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant AST-0607497 and AST-1009550, to the University of Cincinnati.