Thread: Ngc300
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Old 26-09-2011, 11:17 AM
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madbadgalaxyman (Robert)
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Rich,

I am glad I cleared up the identity of the nuclear star cluster in NGC 300.

These objects are interesting because they appear to be similar to globular star clusters, yet they can be quite young, unlike all of our own Galaxy's globulars. They tend to be most obvious in galaxies of Hubble Type Sd, as Sd galaxies are systematically less luminous than Sc galaxies, which means that there is less dust extinction in these galaxies (lower mass galaxies seem not to be able to hold on to much interstellar dust)

There also exist other types of globular-cluster-like objects;
such as the Massive Compact Young Clusters recently formed in some collisions between galaxies, and similar looking young clusters in our own Milky Way...... such as Westerlund 1 and NGC 3603
(see the post "Terzan Trio")

Robert

P.S
Messier 11 is usually regarded as an "open" star cluster, yet its total mass and its structure resemble that of a Low Mass globular star cluster.
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