Starship Asterisk*

Ann wrote:What I find incredible about globular clusters is that they are found in all big galaxies (and in some small galaxies, too), and most of the globulars are between ten and twelve billion years old. What incredible forces swept across the universe between ten and twelve billion years ago to create these amazing super star clusters everywhere in the cosmos?

garry wrote:In globular clusters, if Gravity is the only dominant force, what is it doing differently from "normal galaxies"? Gravity is a known force at present. To say it is the only force is short sighted. There may be other forces involved that we have not discovered yet.

Chris Peterson wrote:

neufer wrote:Then how do you explain the spherical symmetry of globular clusters

Spherical symmetry doesn't argue against gravitational forces being the primary factor in the formation of a many-star body, whether a galaxy (and there are spherical galaxies) or a cluster.

I'm not trying to describe any detail about how galaxies or clusters form (it's an area of active research, of course), only arguing that in the broadest of terms, gravity is probably the dominant force involved.

rstevenson wrote:
Note to self: Never give Art an opening.

rstevenson wrote:Note to self: Never give Art an opening. Always use the speel chacker.

Rob

neufer wrote:

rstevenson wrote: Unlike galaxies, globular clusters have sublety.

sublet: Property leased by one lessee to another.

rstevenson wrote:

rstevenson wrote:Unlike galaxies, globular clusters have sublety. Those brazen galaxies are just showing off, waving their skirts all over the place, flaring and glaring at us. Give me a quiet old cluster any day.

Rob

rstevenson wrote:
Unlike galaxies, globular clusters have sublety.

rstevenson wrote:
Those brazen galaxies are just showing off, waving their skirts all over the place, flaring and glaring at us.

rstevenson wrote:
Give me a quiet old cluster any day.

• • Coriolanus Act 4, Scene 6
  MENENIUS: We loved him but, like beasts
  • And cowardly nobles, gave way unto your clusters,

rstevenson wrote:Unlike galaxies, globular clusters have sublety. Those brazen galaxies are just showing off, waving their skirts all over the place, flaring and glaring at us. Give me a quiet old cluster any day.

owlice wrote:

Ann wrote:
What is it about globular clusters that makes me find them so much less interesting than most spiral galaxies? I think it is entropy. Globular clusters strike me as systems with a very high degree of entropy, where everything is very well mixed, and few obvious structures can be seen. Compare globular clusters with spiral galaxies, which often walk on the wild side and have amazing personalities.

I'm not getting the connection between all these images of galaxies and the topic of this thread; what am I missing here?

Ann wrote:What is it about globular clusters that makes me find them so much less interesting than most spiral galaxies? I think it is entropy. Globular clusters strike me as systems with a very high degree of entropy, where everything is very well mixed, and few obvious structures can be seen. Compare globular clusters with spiral galaxies, which often walk on the wild side and have amazing personalities. This is NGC 1087:



Infrared NGC 1097 by Spitzer.

Click to view full size image

Visual NGC 1097, by R. Jay GaBany.



Ultraviolet NGC 1097, by GALEX.

Click to view full size image

Circumnuclear ring of star formation in NGC 1097, by Hubble.

Wow, you know. But I have to admit that Omega Centauri looks better than NGC 1097 through an amateur telescope!

Ann

Omega can be seen from some northern places I think even 40 degrees North. It's just spectacular with binos rising above the horizon in a dark place. Right now from my location is almost at the Zenit (75 degrees at 9pm).

luigi wrote: Omega can be seen from some northern places I think even 40 degrees North. It's just spectacular with binos rising above the horizon in a dark place. Right now from my location is almost at the Zenit (75 degrees at 9pm).
Boomer it's raining for today's eclipse. I'm so so so mad about that

neufer wrote:Then how do you explain the spherical symmetry of globular clusters :?:

Chris Peterson wrote:
It seems likely that the processes involved in forming globular clusters are similar to those involved in forming galaxies, and that these are dynamical interactions involving gravity.

Wolf Kotenberg wrote:there is an area in the Pacific ocean where the floating garbage collects and makes a giant circle of solid stuff. I never personally seen it so i rely on newsmedia to tell the news consumer to be telling the facts. Is this the same kind of principle that could cause a globular cluster to form ? Al,kl the magnetic lines of force point to a place in this giant Universe .

kaigun wrote:

luigi wrote:Fantastic Image, every star is clearly defined, millions of them!

I live in the South Hemisphere so Omega Cen is almost always high in the sky. At naked eye it looks like a blurry star, with common binoculars it's a fantastic object, quite a beautiful sight.

I live too far north to see Omega Centauri now, but I have enjoyed it in the past while in the Southern Hemisphere. I found Delta Cru and Gacrux useful as pointers. I was in the Navy at time, we used 7x50 binoculars, 20x120 ship's binoculars (only useful if the sea was dead calm), and Night Vision Goggles. The NVGs did not magnify, but the light amplification was cool. The only light pollution we worried about was the Moon.

luigi wrote:Fantastic Image, every star is clearly defined, millions of them!

I live in the South Hemisphere so Omega Cen is almost always high in the sky. At naked eye it looks like a blurry star, with common binoculars it's a fantastic object, quite a beautiful sight.