Quote:
Originally Posted by Atmos
USUALLY a globular cluster is reasonably easy to identify by looking at their HR diagram. GC's typically fall within the ages of 8-12.5 billion years old but there are some younger ones.
Take R136, the centre of NGC 2070 as an example. It is currently an open cluster and large nebulise region which from memory is maybe 10 million years old? Would have to double check that when not on my phone  R136 is an interesting region as it is widely accepted that in time, it will become a GC. On a cosmic scale, new born GCs are a rare event in this time of the universe. For the most part there just isn't enough molecular star clouds around to form a GC, the universe has just changed a lot over the last 5-8 billion years
From memory, R136 is currently going through its first of probably two stellar populations; most GCs have at least two and sometimes three populations. |
Fascinating. So, assuming that the gas cloud has some of the heavier elements, it could be a newborn CG of Population I stars. I looked up the wikipedia entry on R136 because you peaked my interest. I particularly found the following passage interesting;
"R136 produces most of the energy that makes the Tarantula Nebula visible. The estimated mass of the cluster is 450,000 solar masses, suggesting it may become a globular cluster in the future. [...] The cluster R136 contains many of the most massive and luminous stars known, including R136a1. Within the central 5 parsecs there are 32 of the hottest type O stars (O2.0–3.5), 40 other O stars, and 12 Wolf-Rayet stars, mostly of the extremely luminous WNh type. Within 150 parsecs there are a further 325 O stars and 19 Wolf-Rayet stars."
Markus