As opposed to the more short lived and less dense colonies of young stars that group up to create open clusters, globular clusters exist as far greater, spherical collections of aged stars that contain many low mass stars, sometimes numbering among the thousands. Globular clusters are more commonly found among a galaxy’s centre where the vast majority of stars are. It is thought that globular clusters arise from large gas clouds early in the creation of our universe and they assist the formation of greater galaxies. (Sparrow, G 2011, p. 180).
Omega Centauri is a large globular cluster with an estimated star count between five and ten million. With a length spanning over 170 light years, this globular cluster is …show more content…
This nebula spans nearly 1000 light years across and covers about as much of the sky as our moon from it’s sheer size. In comparison to the Orion Nebula, situated at 1300 light years away, the Tarantula Nebula is thirty times physically larger but over one hundred times the distance. Were the position of the two nebulas swapped, not only could one see the Tarantula Nebula by day but also read a book by night! (Gribbin & Goodwin 1997, p. 86)
The entire region the nebula encompasses contains approximately 500 000 times the mass of our sun, and has a high likely hood of forming a globular cluster with almost 100,000 stars. A large amount of this mass is hypothesised to be in the form of approximately twenty hot, young massive stars up to 200 times the mass of our own sun in addition to other smaller stars.At the core of the nebula, the total output energy that makes the nebula glow in the form of absorbed ultraviolet radiation, exceeds fifty million times the output energy that our humble sun is capable of emitting. (Gribbin & Goodwin 1997, p. 86)