Testing the theory with star clusters


There are two types of star clusters:

Open Clusters are young, relatively small, and contain thousands of stars



Globular Clusters are old, large, and contain hundreds of thousands of stars



If we assume all stars in the cluster were formed at roughly the same time, we can use our theory of stellar evolution to estimate the ages of clusters.


10 Million Years


600 Million Years


12 Billion Years



Star Clusters are important because they