Star Clusters

What are Star Clusters?

Star clusters are groups of stars close to each other in space that appear to have roughly similar characteristics and, therefore, a common origin. Some of the over 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, our home galaxy, are grouped together in either narrow or wide star clusters. More than 100 narrow groupings, called globular clusters, surround the galaxy's spiral arms in a great halo. Wide groupings, called open clusters or galactic clusters, are far more numerous and are found at the center of the galaxy.

Open Cluster:

Open Clusters are the clusters observed for some thousands of years. They are found primarily in the galactic disk and are much younger than globular clusters.The stars in the open clusters are formed recently from the gas and dust swept around by the spiral arms.

Globular Cluster:

A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core as a satellite. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, which gives them their spherical shapes and relatively high stellar densities toward their centers. Globular clusters, which are found in the halo of a galaxy, contain considerably more stars and are much older than the less dense galactic or open clusters, which are found in the disk.