Editing Stellar association (section)

{{Short description|Loose star cluster}}
[[File:Sky_Map_7_-_Paper_29.png|thumb|350px|Main associations of the [[galactic plane]] in the [[night sky]]]]
A '''stellar association''' is a very loose [[star cluster]], looser than both [[open cluster]]s and [[globular cluster]]s. Stellar associations will normally contain from 10 to 100 or more visible stars. An association is primarily identified by commonalities in its member stars' movement vectors, ages, and chemical compositions. These shared features indicate that the members share a common origin. Nevertheless, they have become gravitationally unbound, unlike star clusters, and the member stars will drift apart over millions of years, becoming a [[moving group]] as they scatter throughout their neighborhood within the galaxy.<ref name="nao-cas"/>

Stellar associations were discovered by [[Victor Ambartsumian]] in 1947.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Lankford |editor1-first=John |title=History of Astronomy: An Encyclopedia |date=2011|orig-year=1997 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=9781136508349 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9jyExgmZxBoC&dq=ambartsumian&pg=PA10 10] |chapter=Ambartsumian, Viktor Amazaspovich (b. 1908)}}</ref><ref name=baas29 /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Saxon |first1=Wolfgang |title=Viktor A. Ambartsumyan, 87, Expert on Formation of Stars |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/15/world/viktor-a-ambartsumyan-87-expert-on-formation-of-stars.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=15 August 1996 |page=22}}</ref> The conventional name for an association uses the names or abbreviations of the [[constellation]] (or constellations) in which they are located; the association type, and, sometimes, a numerical identifier.