star cluster

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Group of related stars, usually held together by gravity. Members of a star cluster are thought to form together from one large cloud of gas in space. Open clusters such as the Pleiades contain from a dozen to many hundreds of young stars, loosely scattered over several light years. Globular clusters are larger and much more densely packed, containing perhaps 10,000–1,000,000 stars.

The more conspicuous clusters were originally catalogued with the nebulae, and are usually known by their Messier or New General Catalogue (NGC) numbers. A few clusters like the Pleiades, Hyades, and Praesepe are also known by their traditional names.

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