Differential Reddening and Extinction Law Analyses of Galactic Open Clusters

Abstract

Extinction significantly affects open cluster parameters and their use in studies of Galactic structure, yet homogeneous large sample measurements of open cluster extinction properties remain limited. Using Gaia-era open cluster member samples combined with multi-band photometry and stellar parameters, we derive color excesses of member stars and provide the homogeneous characterization of the mean reddening, differential reddening, and color excess ratio (CER) at the cluster scale. Differential reddening increases systematically with mean reddening, with highly reddened clusters near the Galactic plane showing stronger extinction variations. Star-by-star reddening corrections narrow color--magnitude diagram (CMD) sequences in 369 of 435 clusters (85%) with reliable CMD-width measurements, and cluster color excess maps reveal small-scale extinction structures. The median CER is compatible with the standard diffuse interstellar medium extinction curve, while the broad CER distribution and its large-scale variations across the Galactic disk likely reflect differences in the dominant dust environments sampled along different Galactic sight lines.