Globular clusters are old clusters of stars that have remained in a gravitationally bound system. … Open
clusters are much younger and smaller than globular clusters
. They are the recent birthplaces of new stars, which form out of clouds of dust and gas, and contain only hundreds or thousands of stars.
What is the difference between star clusters and galaxies?
Star clusters and galaxies both contain
stars bound together by gravity
, but while the members of a star cluster are thought to form simultaneously from a collapsing ball of gas, galaxies have richer histories.
What is the difference between a globular cluster and an open cluster quizlet?
open clusters contain up to
several thousand stars
and are found in the disk of the galaxy. Globular clusters contain thousands of stars, all closely packed together. They are found mainly in the halo of the galaxy.
How many stars are in open clusters compared with globular clusters?
| Table 1. Characteristics of Star Clusters | Characteristic Globular Clusters Open Clusters | Diameter (in light-years) 50–450 <30 | Mass M Sun 10 4 –10 6 10 2 –10 3 | Number of stars 10 4 –10 6 50–1000 |
|---|
What is an example of an open cluster?
Bottom line: Open clusters are loosely bound gatherings of stars that may be so young that they are still surrounded by the nebulae they were born in.
The Pleiades, Hyades, and Beehive
are well-known examples of open clusters.
What are two main types of star clusters?
Star cluster, either of two general types of stellar assemblages held together by the mutual gravitational attraction of its members, which are physically related through common origin. The two types are
open (formerly called galactic) clusters and globular clusters
.
What does a globular cluster look like?
In a telescope, a globular cluster looks like
a fuzzy ball
, with individual stars at the periphery merging into a solid ball of light towards the center. However, this is simply because the stars are so close together that they can’t be resolved individually telescopically.
What are star clusters good for?
Star clusters are particularly important because they
allow astronomers to check models of stellar evolution and the ages of stars
. … They therefore share the same initial metallicity so any effect of this on stellar evolution is effectively the same for the members of the cluster.
Which of these star clusters is oldest?
A team of astronomers using the Gemini-South telescope has discovered one of the oldest stellar clusters in the Milky Way. The team’s results date the globular cluster, named
HP 1
, at about 12.8 billion years, making its stars among the oldest ever found in our Galaxy.
What causes star clusters?
The simplest idea is stars form into clusters
when a giant cloud of gas and dust condenses
. The center of the cloud pulls in material from its surroundings until it becomes dense enough to trigger star formation. … From this study, they discovered the stars on the outskirts of the clusters actually are the oldest.
Why do globular clusters not collapse?
What keeps these clusters from collapsing is
the angular momentum of the stars as they orbit the cluster’s center of mass
. It’s the same physics that keeps the solar system from collapsing.
What eventually happens to open clusters?
Eventual fate
Many open clusters are
inherently unstable
, with a small enough mass that the escape velocity of the system is lower than the average velocity of the constituent stars. These clusters will rapidly disperse within a few million years.
What kind of stars are in globular clusters?
Globular clusters are generally composed of
hundreds of thousands of low-metal, old stars
. The type of stars found in a globular cluster are similar to those in the bulge of a spiral galaxy but confined to a spheroid in which half the light is emitted within a radius of only a few to a few tens of parsecs.
How many open clusters are in the Milky Way?
An open cluster is a gravitationally bound association of up to a few thousand stars that all formed from the same giant molecular cloud. There are
over 1,000 known open clusters
in the Milky Way galaxy, but the actual total may be up to ten times higher.
What type of nebulae do open clusters form in?
Dark nebulae
are often found within giant molecular clouds. Young stars are often found in open clusters of 10 to 3000 stars.
Which star cluster is closest?
The Hyades (/ˈhaɪ. ədiːz/; Greek Ὑάδες, also known as Caldwell 41, Collinder 50, or Melotte 25) is the nearest open cluster and one of the best-studied star clusters.
