... Through the Shadow of the Moon . ... What would it look like to fly through a total eclipse of the Sun? On a typical place on Earth in the path of the dark shadow of the Moon during a total eclipse, an observer would see the Moon cross the face of the Sun, completely blocking it for a few minutes. ... Just within planet Earth's shadow the Full Moon's disk is still easy to spot at its brief total phase. Full Moon in Earth's Shadow . ... In the Heart of the Virgo Cluster . ...

Astronotes Armagh Planetarium's Stellar Blog! ... Comets and Asteroids . ... Image credit:ESO/J.Emerson/VISTA. ... However others are less pessimistic and it has even been claimed that the mysterious ?Wow! signal? received in 1977 originated from the direction M55.б  Sadly, this still unexplained pulse of radio energy originated from a location rather to the northwest of M55 so I doubt if the source was this cluster (if indeed the signal was genuinely of extraterrestrial origin). ... Mysterious Wow! ...

... 2001 February 7 . Distant Open Cluster M103 . ... Explanation: Bright blue stars highlight the open cluster known as M103 . The gas clouds from which these stars condensed has long dispersed. ... In fact, a formerly blue star has recently evolved off the main sequence and is visible above as the red giant star near the cluster center. In general, yellow stars like our Sun are usually less bright and hence less prominent in open clusters than their massive blue cousins. ... About APOD | ...

... Bad Astronomy . ... Bitesize Astronomy . ... The next step up are true clusters, called open clusters . Open clusters (sometimes misleadingly called "galactic clusters") are groups of stars ranging in size from a few dozen stars up to tens of thousands. ... The youngest is about 1 or 2 million years old, while the oldest is about 6 or 7 billion years, making it just older than our own solar system. ... So by looking at the stars in the cluster we can tell pretty well how old they are. ...

Many intermediate-age star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds exhibit very unusual features in their colour-magnitude diagrams that suggest they may have formed their stars over periods spanning hundreds of millions of years per cluster. ... Nonetheless, this interpretation is enticing in the context of the formation of ancient globular clusters, which almost always exhibit puzzling abundance patterns that apparently require multiple episodes of star formation to explain. ...

... Globular cluster NGC 2808, elliptical galaxy NGC 2986, and the Sextans Dwarf . ... Astronomy for Kids . ... Astronomy 101 . ... Astronomy Foundation . ... Do globular clusters form in a galaxy's halo or migrate in from outside? If the latter, how? ... The Milky Way Galaxy has a system of roughly 150 globular clusters, which are all older than 9 billion years. ... Get instant access to subscriber content on Astronomy.com! ... If you are already registered on Astronomy.com, please log in below. ...

... Indeed, one alteration of orbits can be the outright ejection of a planet. When several big planets are orbiting a star under each other's influence, the system is inherently unstable. ... We know of no good reason why the smallest objects with fusion should have the same mass as the smallest objects that can form by themselves. ... 6) Mission Definition . ... I don't think this mission is impossible, and will suggest a definition in a future article in Mercury. ... Good luck! . ...

... STScI-PRC00-25 A DYING STAR IN GLOBULAR CLUSTER M15 The globular cluster Messier 15 is shown in this color image obtained with the NASA Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). ... Known as Kuestner 648, this was the first planetary nebula to be identified in a globular cluster. ... At the present time, the most massive stars remaining in M15 have about 80 percent of the mass of our Sun, a fact that makes the existence of a planetary nebula like K 648 something of a mystery. ...

... Science User Portal . ... Travel and Contacts . ... Galaxy Clusters . ... Star Clusters . ... This chart shows the constellation of Puppis (The Poop) and includes all the stars that can be seen with the unaided eye on a clear and dark night. This region of the sky includes some bright star clusters, chief amongst them Messier 47 (circled) and its contrasting sister cluster Messier 46. Both clusters are well seen in small telescopes, with Messier 47 having far fewer, but brighter, stars. ...