The Open Cluster by Chipka
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Description
There are more than 1000 known open star clusters within the Milky Way galaxy; most have been discovered fairly recently in terms of astronomical history; we will, undoubtedly, discover others as our understanding and awareness of the home galaxy expands. It is estimated that there are tens of thousands of open clusters in local galactic space. Most are likely hidden behind and within dark molecular clouds.
Unlike globular clusters—massive cousins to open clusters—these stellar aggregates contain fewer stars; as a result of this, they are not as gravitationally-bound. Member stars of open clusters migrate outward. As open clusters exist within the spiral arms of the parent galaxy (and not in a roughly spherical halo around the central bulge of any galactic body) and so they are easily disrupted by gravitational interactions with other clusters and big molecular clouds. Gravitational interactions within open clusters may also result in the ejection of stars from the central body.
The presence of observable open clusters is one of the ways in which a galaxy may be identified; there are no such bodies within elliptical galaxies, as star formation ceased many millions of years ago in ellipticals. Any open clusters in such galactic bodies have long since dispersed. In irregular galaxies, open clusters are distributed throughout the galactic body, normally defining the highest concentrations of gas density. In spiral galaxies, most notably our own Milky Way, open clusters exist within the spiral arms, strongly concentrated near the galactic plane. As they disperse over time, the constituent open cluster stars simply move into the more generalized galactic medium.
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In the image shown here, I guess you can say that this is the Gimp Cluster, since I created this scene using the Gimp. It exists way out in the fringe areas of the Sagittarius Spiral Arm. The Sagittarius Arm is the next arm outward from the Orion Spiral Arm, which is—of course—where our own sun is located. It would seem that most open clusters are choosy about where they form, and so there are more open clusters the farther outward one moves in the galaxy. The Gimp Cluster is no exception to this rule. As most member stars of open clusters are fairly hot and fairly more massive then our own sun, they don’t tend to live very long. As you can see, most of the members of the Gimp Cluster are mostly blue. Bad news if you’re a protein-derived life form. Fortunately for the intriguing people-sorts-of-things that live on the planet off in the distance, their home star (in the upper right corner) is a nice, toasty G-type body, not too different than our own sun.
The star cluster, star-field, and nebula were all created with the Gimp and there are no photographic elements in that portion of this image. The planet and its two moons are taken from three photographs of brick and sidewalk textures. I have amassed quite a collection of Star Wars action figures, and the spaceship in this image is actually a macro photograph of the rocket-pack accessory that came with my purchase of the Jango Fett character figure. I was amazed at how like a spaceship the thing looked, once I yanked it off of the figure’s back (don’t worry, it snaps back on) and I’m pleased that a macro photograph of that same rocket pack has provided a good 45 minutes of entertainment as I created this image. Now, as I look at this scene, I suspect there might be a story with it. I’ll let you know if something comes out of it.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.
Comments (27)
MrsRatbag
You suspect there might be a story? I'd bet the ranch on it! Beautifully created universe, Chip, can't wait to see who inhabits it!
NefariousDrO
wow! You did a great job in creating this one, that starfield looks stunning!
3-d-c
Excellent! Well researched.
kgb224
Outstanding work my friend. God Bless.
kagemusha77
Splendid space scene, love the depth of these kind of images, great light effects!
KatesFriend
It is beautiful space art. I have never used gimp for this kind of work but it is clear the results speak fort themselves. If only Kubric had gimp, that's what I say. Let us hope that the yellow star is drifting in an opposite direction to the blue ones being released from the cluster. As you pointed out, their life expectancy is short (maybe 10 to 50 million years) and they almost always end their lives in a supernova explosion. Very bad news for any biospheres near at hand.
Sepiasiren
lovely work--has the feel of space that is often projected in films like Aliens of 2001 Space Odyssey--two faves...
RodS
Excellent Gimp work, Chip! A beautiful star cluster - well done!
netot
Amazing work. And how you used the pack of Jango, is truly creative. I hope to read soon the story inspired by this image.
durleybeachbum
Brilliant piece of work, Chip!
fallen21
Excellent work.
evinrude
Epic scifi.
flavia49
stunning scene
wotan
Beautiful cluster and explanation... I love astronomical pictures and I like to incorporated it im my images!
phfrancke
thank you for teaching while you entertain. I enjoyed the text as much as the image. we are but flashes of a story.
helanker
OH WOW !! What a fantastic creation. You really did a great job on this. I never tried that program Gimp. You must be able to do alot of things in that. I am impressed. Thanks for sharing both this and the excellenr info too.
shayhurs
Well done!
JaneEden
Wonderful image really great, and such an interesting intro, thanks Chip, hugs Jane xx
CloverLinda
Wonderful peaceful feel to this.
sandra46
EXCELLENT WORK! GREAT IMAGE!
MadameX
Of course, there is a story here! And I can't wait to read it...LOL! Wonderful image and very creative!
wrpspeed
very beautiful scene
moochagoo
Fascinating story and good scifi creation :)
beachzz
I'm not a space person, but this is really cool. I love how the ship seems to just be floating along quietly and peacefully, though I have a feeling that may not be the case!!
jac204
Very creative and nice lesson on star clusters.
icerian
Beautiful "space scenery" with its own life.
danapommet
An amazing SciFi image Chip. I like the space craft and depth. Dana