On the physical reality of overlooked open clusters
  We present UBVRI and CT1T2 photometry for fifteen catalogued open clusters of
relative high brightness and compact appearance. From these unprecedented
photometric data sets, covering wavelengths from the blue up to the
near-infrared, we performed a thorough assessment of their reality as stellar
aggregates. We statistically assigned to each observed star within the object
region a probability of being a fiducial feature of that field in terms of its
local luminosity function, colour distribution and stellar density. Likewise,
we used accurate parallaxes and proper motions measured by the Gaia satellite
to help our decision on the open cluster reality. Ten catalogued aggregates did
not show any hint of being real physical systems; three of them had been
assumed to be open clusters in previous studies, though. On the other hand, we
estimated reliable fundamental parameters for the remaining five studied
objects, which were confirmed as real open clusters. They resulted to be
clusters distributed in a wide age range, 8.0 < log(t yr-1) < 9.4, of solar
metal content and placed between 2.0 and 5.5 kpc from the Sun. Their ages and
metallicities are in agreement with the presently known picture of the spatial
distribution of open clusters in the Galactic disc.
