New Galactic embedded clusters and candidates from a WISE Survey

We carried out a search for new infrared star clusters, stellar groups and candidates using WISE images, which are very sensitive to dust emission nebulae. We report the discovery of 437 embedded clusters and stellar groups that show a variety of structures, both in the stellar and nebular components. Pairs or small groupings of clusters are observed, suggesting multiple generations at the early formation stages. The resulting catalogue provides Galactic and equatorial coordinates, together with angular sizes for all objects. The nature of a representative test sub-sample of 14 clusters is investigated in detail by means of 2MASS photometry. The colour magnitude diagrams and radial density distributions characterise them as stellar clusters. The 437 new objects were found in the ranges 145°⩽ℓ⩽290° and -25°⩽b⩽20°, and they appear to be a major object source for future studies of star cluster formation and their early evolution. WISE is a powerful tool to further probe for very young clusters throughout the disk.