What is the difference between a globular cluster and a galaxy?

What is the difference between a globular cluster and a galaxy?

By contrast, a typical globular cluster is roughly 100 light-years in diameter. And some dwarf spherical galaxies, such as Fornax, have their own globular clusters. But while such galaxies are bigger than globular clusters, a dwarf spheroidal’s stars are spread over a larger area.

How are galaxies and globular clusters similar?

Globular clusters aren’t considered galaxies because they are gravitationally bound to and orbiting galaxies like the Milky Way, and they have relatively small masses. When comparing the two, a typical globular cluster might contain a mass of 100,000 Suns, whereas the Milky Way has nearly 1 trillion solar masses.

What are the similarities and differences between globular clusters and elliptical galaxies?

And yes it would resemble a globular cluster except the stars move differently. Elliptical galaxies have an approximately ellipsoidal shape. Globular clusters are often associated with galaxies. The Milkey Way contains over 150 identified globular clusters.

How are globular and open clusters similar and different?

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 if we lived in a globular cluster?

To live on an Earth in a globular cluster would mean that the cluster’s stars (if they were like our Sun) would combine to create a night sky at around 20 times brighter than Earth’s night sky at full Moon.

What do all stars in a globular cluster have in common?

Globular star clusters contain hundreds of thousands of stars, and some – like Omega Centauri, shown above – contain millions of stars. Open star clusters tend to contain only hundreds of stars. Notice its very symmetrical structure, which is typical of globular star clusters.

Which is the best description of a globular cluster?

Globular clusters are tightly packed, symmetrical collections of stars, orbiting mostly in the extended star halos surrounding most spiral galaxies. Globular clusters contain some of the oldest stars in a galaxy and are thought to have formed early in its history.

What do Globular clusters tell us?

Globular clusters are densely packed collections of ancient stars. Roughly spherical in shape, they contain hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, of stars. Studying them helps astronomers estimate the age of the universe or figure out where the center of a galaxy lies.

What’s the difference between an elliptical galaxy and a globular cluster?

Describe the difference between an elliptical galaxy and a globular cluster. Elliptical galaxies have very bright centers and very little gas and dust while a globular cluster is a tight group of stars within a galaxy that looks like a ball and contains up to 1 million stars.

What do elliptical and irregular galaxies have in common?

As their name suggests, elliptical galaxies are round or oval, with stars distributed fairly uniformly throughout. They have a bulge and halo, like spiral galaxies, but don’t have the flat disk of stars. The stars in ellipticals tend to be older. Irregular galaxies have no identifiable shape or structure to them.

Which of the following best describes globular clusters?

Which of the following statements best describes globular clusters? They contain from hundreds of thousands to millions of stars and have a typical size of about 50 parsecs.

Do we live in a globular cluster?

We’d settle on other planets and spread our human civilization all over the globular cluster we lived in. That is, if there were other planets to travel to. Scientists don’t know for sure how many planets could form in those clusters. And they don’t know if life is actually possible inside the stellar swarm.

Is a globular cluster bigger than a galaxy?

A globular cluster is sometimes known more simply as a globular. Globular clusters are found in the halo of a galaxy and contain considerably more stars and are much older than the less dense open clusters, which are found in the disk of a galaxy.

What is the Virgo Supercluster and why does it matter?

First, the Virgo Supercluster is our supercluster, meaning that it tends to matter for much the same reason that our solar system matters. However, since a supercluster is a much, much bigger structure than a solar system, that robs much of the strength of this sentiment.

What is our galactic supercluster?

A supercluster is a large group of smaller galaxy clusters or galaxy groups; it is among the largest-known structures of the cosmos . The Milky Way is part of the Local Group galaxy group (which contains more than 54 galaxies), which in turn is part of the Virgo Cluster , which is part of the Laniakea Supercluster .