Above and Beyond: Star Cluster Omega Centauri

 

 

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach.

 

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA, ESA, and STScI except:

 

·       Taurus constellation drawing from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory

·       Winter Circle star field image created with Stellarium

·       Omega Centauri ground-based image courtesy of F. Lehman (South Florida Dark Sky Observers)

·       Photo of night sky at twilight courtesy of ESO/H. H. Heyer

·       Milky Way star field photo courtesy of ESO/C. Malin

·       Orion Nebula 3D animation courtesy of ESO/M. Kornmesser

·       Star formation animation courtesy of NCSA/NASA/A. Kritsuk and M. Norman (UC San Diego) and A. Boley (Univ. of Florida)

·       Photo of the Milky Way over the Austrian Alps copyright Babak A. Tafreshi (TWAN)

 

 

Written by Vanessa Thomas

Designed by John Godfrey

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Text, Many stars live in groups, or clusters. 

Huge, spherical clusters of stars are called globular clusters. 

This is our galaxy's largest, called Omega Centauri. 

The Hubble Space Telescope has peered into the heart of Omega Centauri. 

There it found stars of different colors, sizes, and ages. 

There are many yellowish, middle-aged, Sun-like stars. 

Older, cooler, bloated stars appear orange. 

The red stars are even older, cooler, and bigger. 

The blue stars are the super-hot cores of very old stars that have cast off their outer layers.