An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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A spherical aggregate of stars made up of thousands to a few million stars which is an orbiting satellite of a galaxy. There are over 150 globular clusters orbiting our galaxy. Globular clusters are gravitationally → bound systems, highly concentrated to the center (up to a few 10³ stars per cubic → light-years), with a volume ranging from a few dozen up to more than 300 light-years in diameter. They are generally old and → metal-poor and are among the first objects to be formed in a galaxy. There is also strong evidence that they form in major galaxy interactions and → mergers. The stars in a globular cluster are thought to have a common origin and thus a single age and → chemical abundance; with some exceptions such as → Omega Centauri and NGC 2808, which exhibit multiple populations. The presence of various sub-populations within a globular cluster is interpreted as indicating distinct epochs of mass → accretion and/or major → star formation. The Milky Way hosts about 200 globular clusters. They are spherically distributed about the → Galactic Center up to a radius of 350 light-years, with a maximum concentration toward the Galactic center. All but the smallest → dwarf galaxies possess globular clusters. Some galaxies, e.g. M87, contain several thousands of them. There are, however, important differences. While all the globular clusters in our Galaxy and in → M31 are old (ages of about 10 billion years, at least), there are galaxies, such as the two → Magellanic Clouds and → M33, that host much younger globular clusters (ages of a few billion years, or less).

Globular, from → globule + -ar, variant of → -al; → cluster.

Xušé, → cluster; guysân "shaped like a globe," from guy, → globe + -sân "manner, semblance" (variant sun, Mid.Pers. sân "manner, kind," Sogdian šôné "career").

A small, irregular → cluster of galaxies with fewer than 100 galaxies in its core. It has no strongly dominant central galaxy and is notable for the high proportion of spirals. It lies some 500 million → light-years away in the constellation → Hercules; also known as Abell 2151.

→ Hercules; → cluster.

A model in which a system of self-gravitating particles will gradually aggregate into larger and larger gravitationally bound groups and clusters.

→ hierarchical; → clustering.

A relatively poor → galaxy cluster at about 50 Mpc containing a pair of bright galaxies near its centre: NGC 3309 and NGC 3311. Also known as Abell 1060 (→ Abell catalog), Hydra I is the prototype of an evolved and dynamically relaxed cluster, being dominated by early-type galaxies and having a regular core shape.

→ Hydra; → cluster.

The matter lying between the clusters of galaxies in an aggregation of such clusters.

→ inter- + → cluster + → medium.

A diffuse (N_e ~ 10^-3 cm^-3), hot (T ~ 10⁷-10⁸ K), magnetized (B ~ 0.1-10 μG) plasma that exists between galaxies in a → galaxy cluster and is composed mainly of H, He, and → heavy elements. The ICM strongly emits → X-rays (L_x ~ 10⁴⁵ erg s^-1), making it the most luminous extended X-ray source in Universe. While some of the gas has been stripped out of galaxies, it is also likely that some is also primordial in nature, and has been accreted into the clusters. The origin of the ICM is subject of intense investigation. Broadly, two possibilities have been envisaged. The first one considers the intracluster gas to be once contained in galaxies and later driven in the ICM. This would explain several observations: the presence of high → metallicity gas, and H I deficiency of galaxies residing in the cores of rich clusters (which suggests that gas stripping has occurred). Alternatively, the ICM is primordial, originating at the time of cluster formation. Actually the ICM may result from a combination of both scenarios.

→ intra-; → cluster; → medium.

A → supercluster of galaxies that includes our → Local Group and about 300 to 500 known → galaxy clusters and groups. Also called → Local Supercluster. If approximated as round, it has a diameter of 12,000 km s^-1 in units of the → cosmic expansion or 160 megaparsecs, and encompasses about 10¹⁷ → solar masses. Our Local Group lies toward the outer regions of Laniakea. Its main components are the four previously known superclusters: → Virgo supercluster (the part where the → Milky Way resides), Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster (including the → Great Attractor, Antlia Wall, known as Hydra Supercluster, → Centaurus supercluster), Pavo-Indus Supercluster, and Southern Supercluster (including Fornax Cluster, Dorado and Eridanus clouds). The most massive galaxy clusters of Laniakea are Virgo, Hydra, Centaurus, Abell 3565, Abell 3574, Abell 3521, Fornax, Eridanus, and Norma. The Laniakea supercluster was discovered by Tully et al. (2014, Nature 513, 71).

From the Hawaiian words lani "heaven," and akea "spacious, immeasurable;" → supercluster.

The supercluster to which the Local Group belongs. It is composed of some 100 clusters of galaxies, with the Virgo cluster of galaxies at its center.

→ local; → supercluster.

A group of stars dynamically associated so that they have a common motion with respect to the local standard of rest.

→ moving; → cluster.

A loose grouping of dozens or hundreds of young stars distributed in a region a few light-years across. Open clusters are relatively young, typically containing many hot, highly luminous stars. They are located within the disk of the Galaxy, whence their older name Galactic clusters.

→ open; → cluster.

A → galaxy cluster of about 12,000 members about 250 million → light-years (→ redshift z = 0.0176) away, covering 4° of sky in the constellation → Perseus. It is dominated by elliptical galaxies. At its center lies the → radio source→ Perseus A. Also known as Abell 426 (→ Abell catalog).

→ Perseus; → cluster.

A long, dense chain of galaxies with a length of almost 300 million → light-years, constituting one of the largest known structures in the → Universe. At the left end of the supercluster lies the massive → Perseus cluster (A426), one of the most massive clusters of galaxies within 500 million light-years.

→ Perseus; → Pisces; → cluster.

A precursor of a small, loosely bound → star cluster (→ bound cluster) as well as an → OB association, with masses ranging from about 10 to 1000 → solar masses or more.

→ pre-; → cluster; → core.

A very huge mass of gas which will give rise to a cluster of galaxies.

→ proto-; → cluster.

A bright → open cluster of stars located within 100 light-years of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, and one of the three → Galactic center clusters. The Quintuplet cluster was originally noted for its five very bright stars, but it is now known to contain many luminous → massive stars that are not detected at visible wavelengths due to heavy extinction by dust along the line of sight. The cluster is about 4 million years old and had an initial mass over 10⁴ solar masses. The five brighter stars of the cluster are dusty → WC Wolf-Rayet stars. The Quintuplet cluster also contains two → Luminous Blue Variables, the Pistol star and FMM362. The Pistol star has a luminosity 10⁷ times solar making it one of the most luminous stars known. The Quintuplet cluster is more dispersed than the nearby → Arches cluster.

Quintuplet, from the five brightest stars originally observed; → cluster.

A → galaxy cluster with a particularly large number of galaxies.

→ rich; → cluster.

A → star cluster situated within an arcsecond, or 0.04 pc, from the → Galactic Center, in the vicinity of the → supermassive black hole Sgr A*. The cluster members are about 40 → main sequence → B-type stars with relatively high orbital → eccentricities (0.3 ≤ e&le 0.95). The most famous member of the S cluster is S2 because of its brightness and its fast orbital motion near Sgr A*. Same as Same as the Sgr A* cluster and S stars. See also other → Galactic center clusters (Figer et al. 2002, ApJ 581, 258; and 1999, ApJ 525, 750).

S, because of proximity to → Sgr A*; → cluster.

Same as → S cluster.

→ Sgr A*; → cluster.

The richest → supercluster of galaxies in the nearby → Universe at a → redshift going from z ~0.03 to z ~0.05 (680 million → light-years), and extending over several square degrees on the plane of the sky. It lies behind the → Centaurus supercluster. Also called the Shapley concentration, it is made up of 25 → galaxy clusters with a total mass of about 10¹⁶→ solar masses. At the core of the Shapley supercluster is a remarkable complex formed by several rich clusters of galaxies from the → Abell catalog; the central and most massive of them is A3558.

→ Shapley's wing; → supercluster

1) A group of stars held together by the mutual → gravitational attraction of its members, which are physically related through common origin. They are of two types: → open clusters and → globular clusters.
2) A → bound stellar agglomeration for which the age of the stars exceeds the → crossing time (Giels & Portegies Zwart, 2010, MNRAS Letters, astro-ph/1010.1720). See also → stellar association

→ star; → cluster.