Revisiting Galactic Disk and Spiral Arms Using Open Clusters

Abstract

We use the largest catalog of open clusters in the post-Gaia era to provide an observational view of the Galactic disk. By compiling physical parameters such as age, distance, and kinematic information, we investigate the spatial distribution of open clusters and revisit the spiral arms and other asymmetries in the Galactic disk. Using young open clusters as a tracer of spiral arms, we map the spiral structure of the Galaxy and find that most of the clusters start migrating away from the spiral arms in about 10–20 Myr and fill the interarm regions as they age. Using the 3D kinematic information on 371 open star clusters, we derive different individual pattern speeds for spiral arms that closely follow the rotation curve of the Milky Way, hence favoring the transient nature of spiral arms in the Milky Way. The pattern rotation speeds of each spiral arm suggest that the spiral arms have not accelerated in the last 80 Myr. Based on the distribution of open clusters younger than 700 Myr above or below the Galactic plane, we found a solar offset of z ⊙ = 17.0 ± 0.9 pc north of the Galactic plane and estimated the scale height z h = 91.7 ± 1.9 pc from the Galactic plane.