Activity and rotation in Praesepe and the Hyades

We present the results of a comparative study of the relationship between stellar rotation and activity in two benchmark open clusters: Praesepe and the Hyades. As they have the same age and roughly solar metallicity, these clusters serve as an ideal laboratory for testing the agreement between theoretical and empirical rotation-activity relations at ~600 Myr.

We have compiled a sample of 720 spectra - more than half of which are new observations - for 516 high-confidence members of Praesepe; we have also obtained 139 new spectra for 130 high-confidence Hyads. We have also collected rotation periods (P_rot_) for 135 Praesepe members and 87 Hyads. To compare H{alpha} emission, an indicator of chromospheric activity, as a function of color, mass, and Rossby number R_o_, we first calculate an expanded set of {chi} values, with which we can obtain the H{alpha} to bolometric luminosity ratio, L_H{alpha}_/L_bol_, even when spectra are not flux-calibrated and/or stars lack reliable distances.