(Click on thumbnail or object's name to view full size image and details)

    M13 (NGC 6205):  A CCD image of a globular cluster with more than 500,000 individual stars;

  The Pleiades (M45):  A 35 mm photograph of an open cluster and reflection nebulae.

  Messier 24 - The Sagittarius Star Cloud: A closer look at one of the inner spiral arms of our galaxy.

Clusters:    Star clusters come in two general varieties; open clusters and globular clusters.  Globular clusters are aggregations of many stars in close gravitational association.  Globular clusters are spherical in shape and contain 100,000 to 1,000,000 individual stars.  Globular clusters orbit in a halo around our Milky Way Galaxy [and other galaxies as well], the source of their origin is not yet fully understood.  Open clusters are looser and less uniform associations of stars within our own Milky Way Galaxy.

All the images in this site are © Copyright 2002 by Dean Jacobsen.
Any use of these images without the prior written consent or knowledge of the author is strictly prohibited.
Contact Dean at deanjacobsen@adelphia.net  for more information.