A VVV view of known massive clusters

BORISSOVA, J; CLARKE, J.R.A.; MONI-BONIN, C.; MAURO, F.; BONATTO, C.; KURTEV, R.; BAUME, GUSTAVO; FEINSTEIN, C.; D. MINNITI; CATELAN, M.; LUCAS, P. W.

Hertfordshire

Encuentro; The 2rd VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea Science Meeting; 2011

University of Herfodshire

Star clusters are the birth place of the great majority of stars and are, therefore, crucial components of galaxies. However, their evolution in their first few Myrs is still poorly understood. To constrain initial conditions (e.g. number of stars, stellar mass function, mass segregation, spatial density) we combine photometry from the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey and follow-up spectroscopy of brightest members of massive star clusters. Their well constrained properties will eventually answer questions about stellar formation and cluster evolution. We present preliminary results from our project for three massive clusters.