Abstract
Among the star clusters in the Galaxy, those embedded in nebulae represent the youngest group that has only recently been explored. The analysis of a sample of 22 candidate embedded stellar systems in reflection nebulae and/or HII environments is presented. We employed optical spectroscopic observations of stars in the directions of the clusters together with near infrared photometry from the 2MASS catalogue. Our analysis is based on source surface density, colour-colour diagram and on theoretical pre-main sequence isochrones. We take into account the field star contamination by carrying out a statistical subtraction. The studied objects have the characteristics of low mass systems. We derive their fundamental parameters. Most of the cluster ages turned out to be younger than 2 Myr. The studied embedded stellar systems in reflection nebulae and/or HII region complexes do not have stars of spectral types earlier than B. The total stellar masses locked in the clusters are in the range 20-220 solar masses. They are found to be gravitationally unstable and are expected to dissolve in a timescale of a few Myr (Soares et al. 2008, A&A, 478, 419).
