Glossary
Globular Clusters

Globular clusters are

  • gravitationally bound concentrations of stars
    • 104 to 106+ stars, all formed around the same time.
    • radius 10pc to 50+ pc
  • Low elemental abundances
    • old "Population II" stars, formed around/before formation of galactic disk
    • Ages estimates (13 to 18 Gyr) using convective mixing of material down into the stellar core.
  • highly eccentric elliptical orbits,
  • form a "spherical" halo centered on the galactic center, but which extended beyond the radius of the disk

The Globular Cluster M2
[Image Credit :SEDS]

Links

Additional Notes


Color-Magnitude diagram for a Globular Cluster HR
[Image Credit : Pierre Demarque]