OC Binary Explorer

About this website

This website provides public access to data products and visualization tools to explore results from our open cluster photometric binary research. Click the "Enter" button above to enter the interactive data explorer. The interactive sky view on the right above shows the open cluster population as seen from Earth, with the clusters in this study highlighted in pink.

This project uses the Bayesian Analysis of Stellar Evolution with Nine Parameters (BASE-9) software suite along with Gaia kinematics and distances and photometry from Gaia, Pan-STARRS and 2MASS to characterise the binary-star populations in a collection of open clusters. For more information, please see our publications below and the link to our archived dataset on Zenodo, which explain our analysis methods and data products in more detail.

Meet the Team

Aaron Geller
Research Associate Professor, Project PI
Northwestern Unversity - CIERA

Anna Childs
Postdoctoral Associate
Northwestern Unversity - CIERA

Anurathi Madasi, Undergraduate Researcher, Loyola University Chicago

Amelia Marengo, Undergraduate Researcher, Illinois Institute of Technology

Erin Motherway, Undergraduate Researcher, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Justyce Watson, Undergraduate Researcher, Lewis University

Claire Zwicker, Undergraduate Researcher, Illinois Institute of Technology

Refereed Publications

"Goodbye Chi-by-Eye: A Bayesian Analysis of Photometric Binaries in Six Open Clusters", Childs, C. A., Geller, A. M., von Hippel, T., Motherway, E., and Zwicker, C., 2024, ApJ, 963, 41, DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad18c0

"Tracing the Origins of Mass Segregation in M35: Evidence for Primordially Segregated Binaries", Motherway, E., Geller, A. M., Childs, A. C., Zwicker, C., and von Hippel, T., 2024, ApJL, 962, 9, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad18bf

"Investigating Mass Segregation of the Binary Stars in the Open Cluster NGC 6819", Zwicker, C., Geller, A. M., Childs, A. C., Motherway, E., and von Hippel, T., 2024, ApJ, 967, 44, DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad39c6

Conference Presentations

"Goodbye Chi-by-Eye: A Bayesian Analysis of Photometric Binaries in Six Open Clusters'", Childs, C. A., Geller, A. M., von Hippel, T., Motherway, E., and Zwicker, C., 2024, AAS #243 oral presentation 422.01, BAAS, 56, 2, NASA ADS

"Searching for Tidal Tails in the Open Cluster M35", Madasi, A., Geller, A., and Childs, A., 2024, AAS #243 poster presentation 458.18, BAAS, 56, 2, NASA ADS

"Blue Stragglers and Blue Lukers in Open Cluster N-body Models", Marengo, A., Geller, A., and Childs A., 2024, AAS #243 poster presentation 458.19, BAAS, 56, 2, NASA ADS

"Ages of Normal and Blue Lurker Stars in the Open Cluster M67", Watson, J., Geller, A., Childs, A., con Hippem, T., and Jeffery E., 2024, AAS #243 poster presentation 458.05, BAAS, 56, 2, NASA ADS

"Constraining Binary Demographics in Open Clustes to Test Binary Formation and Evolution Theory", Childs, A., Geller, A., Motherway, A., and Zwicker, C., 2023, AAS #241 poster presentation 321.01, BAAS, 55, 2, NASA ADS

"Using Bayesian Statistics Software (BASE-9) to Analyze Binary Stars in Open CLustesr M67 and M35", Motherway, E., Geller, A. M., Childs, A., and Zwicker, C., 2023, AAS #241 poster presentation 401.13, BAAS, 55, 2, NASA ADS

"Applying Bayesian statistics to identify binaries within the open cluster NGC 6819", Zwicker, C., Geller, A. M., Childs, A., and Motherway, A., 2023, AAS #241 poster presentation 401.14, BAAS, 55, 2, NASA ADS

Data Access

Data used in this study are available on Zenodo. See here for data from our 2023 paper and here for data from our 2025 paper.