The study of open star clusters validates this qoute in many ways. Scientist have used them to understand the formation of, properties, and distances to stars.  The birth of stars is a macrocosmic display of stellar reincarnation. The distances gauge the scale at which the entire universe is measured on. The evolutionary tracks of stars are carefully plotted on H-R diagrams, which help scientists understand the patterns of a star's main sequence lifetime. Open star clusters include hundreds to thousands of stars, and stretch from 1 degree to 26 degrees across the nighttime sky.



 Scientists also use open star clusters to search for brown dwarfs. Since these type of clusters are breeding grounds for stars, many types of stars can be found. A brown dwarf is a star that is not massive enough to begin fusion, so it is not as luminous. They would most likely become gravitationally bound to a much more massive star within the cluster such as the Pleiades. Brown dwarfs are most easily detected right after their formation.

        The following webpages contain the information we have gathered from our research in our Spring course. They include, cosmologies (mainly the Pleiades), our observations (Pleiades, Hyades, and NGC869, 884 a double cluster), calculations, and other information pertaining to the Pleiades.

 

 
 

CONTENTS

Star Formation	Pleiades	Data Table  of the Pleiades	Observations
Calculations	Cosmologies	Bibliography	Presentation



The Double Cluster (NGC 869 and NGC 884). Courtesy of NASA at http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov

Last modified: 5/25/99 1:05 pm
Conceived and Delivered by: Sara Petty-Powell and Christina Pince
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