Stars are born within dense clumps of giant molecular clouds, and constitute young stellar agglomerates known as embedded clusters, which only evolve into bound open clusters under special conditions. We statistically study all embedded clusters (ECs) and open clusters (OCs) known so far in the inner Galaxy, in particular investigating their interaction with the surrounding molecular environment and the differences in their evolution.

Cone search capability for table J/A+A/560/A76/clusters (The catalog of clusters for 300<l<60,, |b|<=1.5{deg})