Moving group

In astronomy, a moving group is a number of stars considered together because they share the same age, metallicity, and kinematics (radial velocity and proper motion). Hence, stars in a moving group likely formed in proximity and at nearly the same time from the same gas cloud.

Introduction

It is widely accepted that most stars form in clusters or associations containing dozens to thousands of members. These clusters and associations dissociate with time leaving behind a loose group of stars with similar properties. The concept of moving groups was first introduced by Olin Eggen in the 1960s (Eggen 1965). Moving groups can be young (50 Myr, AB Doradus moving group) or old (2 Gyr, HR 1614 moving group). A list of the nearest young moving groups has been compiled by López-Santiago et al. (2006).

See also

* Stellar association

* Open Clusters

References

* Eggen, O.J. 1965, in Moving Groups of Stars. Galactic structure. Edited by Adriaan Blaauw and Maarten Schmidt. Published by the University of Chicago Press, Chicago, ILL USA, 1965., p.111 (ADS entry [1])

* López-Santiago, J., Montes, D., Crespo-Chacón, I., & Fernández-Figueroa, M. J. 2006, The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 643, Issue 2, pp. 1160-1165 (ADS entry[2])