AS102 Study Guide - Final Guide: Open Cluster, Globular Cluster, Main Sequence
Document Summary
Most open cluster stars are young (no more than 5 billion years about the age of the solar system). Globular cluster stars, on the other hand, typically have masses less than our sun, indicating these stars to be over 10 billion years. Some have ages between 12 and 16 billion years, making these the oldest known objects in the universe, and proving that the universe is at least this old. If we make an h-r diagram of a star cluster we can learn important things about the stars in the cluster. However, the stars making up the cluster have a variety of masses. So when we look at the h-r diagram for a cluster, such as the. Hyades cluster (another cluster in taurus near its centre) we can determine the age of the cluster. Here we see that the most massive stars have already died and the stars that are left are still on the main sequence.
