Stellar contents and star formation in the young cluster Stock 18

Abstract

We have carried out deep (V ~ 21 mag) UBVRI photometric study of the star cluster Stock 18. These along with archival Infrared data have been used to derive the basic cluster parameters and also to study the star formation processes in and around the cluster region. The distance to the cluster is derived as 2.8 ± 0.2 kpc while its age is estimated as 6.0 ± 2.0 Myr. Present study indicates that interstellar reddening is normal in the direction of the cluster. The mass function slope is found to be -1.37 ± 0.27 for the mass range 1 < M/M_⊙ < 11.9. There is no evidence found for the effect of mass segregation in main-sequence stars of the cluster. A young stellar population with age between 1-2 Myr have been found in and around the cluster region. The presence of IRAS and AKARI sources with MSX intensity map also show the youth of the Sh2-170 region.