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Glossary term: Amas globulaire

Description: Un amas globulaire est un groupe d'étoiles, de forme sphérique, massif et très dense, lié par la gravitation et stable depuis des milliards d'années. Dans la Voie lactée, les amas globulaires ne sont constitués que d'étoiles très anciennes (en général, leur âge est compris entre 11 et 13 milliards d'années). Les amas globulaires comptent parmi les objets les plus anciens de la Voie lactée. Dans la plupart des amas globulaires, les étoiles qui les composent se sont toutes formées à peu près en même temps, bien que quelques amas globulaires montrent des signes de générations multiples d'étoiles. La Voie lactée compte environ 160 amas globulaires (la plupart résidant dans son halo), tandis que les galaxies elliptiques géantes peuvent en compter plusieurs milliers.

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Term and definition status: The original definition of this term in English have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The translation of this term and its definition is still awaiting approval

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".

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A cluster of stars of may different colours. The stars are heavily concentrated in the centre of the image

Stars in globular clusters near the heart of the Milky Way

Caption: This Hubble Space Telescope image presents a view of the interiors of the densely packed globular cluster Terzan 9 which consists of millions of stars located close to the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. This globular cluster sits within the central galatic bulge amidst interstellar dust, which obscures light from these star clusters. This image is a combination of light seen in the visible and infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Multi-wavelength imaging of the color and brightness of stars helps determine their age and in turn age of the parent star cluster.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Cohen credit link

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Related Diagrams


Scorpius appears as a letter T joined to a letter J. The ecliptic runs ESE to WNW and clips one arm of the T

Scorpius Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Scorpius (often commonly called Scorpio) along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Scorpius is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Ophiuchus, Serpens Caput, Libra, Lupus, Norma, Ara, Corona Australis and Sagittarius. Scorpius’s brightest star Antares appears in the heart of the constellation with the famous tail of Scoprius in the south-east (lower left). Scorpius lies on the ecliptic (shown here as a blue line), this is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun only spends a short amount of time in late November in Scorpius. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Scorpius. Scorpius lies south of the celestial equator. The whole constellation is not visible from the most arctic regions of the world with parts of Scorpius obscured for observers in northern parts of Asia, Europe and North America. Scorpius is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The yellow circles mark the positions of the open clusters M6, M7 & NGC 6231 while the yellow circles with plus signs superimposed on them mark the globular clusters M4 and M80. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination and with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The circle around Antares indicates that it is a variable star. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky. The blue line marks the ecliptic, the path the Sun appears to travel across the sky over the course of one year.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by IAU/Sky & Telescope

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Sagittarius is shaped like a teapot pouring tea south west. The ecliptic runs WSW to ENE at the top of the constellation

Sagittarius Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Sagittarius along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Sagittarius is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Aquila, Scutum, Serpens Cauda, Ophiuchus, Scorpius, Corona Australis, Telescopium, Microscopium and Capricornus. The brighter stars in Sagittarius form a distinctive teapot shape. Sagittarius lies on the ecliptic (shown here as a blue line), this is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun is in Sagittarius from mid December to mid January. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Sagittarius. Sagittarius lies south of the celestial equator. The famous teapot asterism is visible for all but the most arctic regions of the world but the most southerly parts of the constellation are not visible in northern parts of Asia, Europe and North America. Sagittarius is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* which lies at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy is sits on the western (here right-hand) edge of Sagittarius. Due to it covering an area at the center of our Galaxy, Sagittarius is home to many star clusters including open clusters (marked here with yellow circles) and globular clusters (marked here with yellow circles with + signs superimposed on them). Three nebulae are also marked here with green squares. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination and with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by IAU/Sky & Telescope

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

Carte de la constellation du Capricorne

Caption: La constellation du Capricorne avec ses étoiles brillantes et les constellations environnantes. Le Capricorne est entouré (dans le sens des aiguilles d'une montre à partir du haut) du Verseau, de l'Aigle, du Sagittaire, de Microscope et du Poisson Austral. Le Capricorne se trouve sur l'écliptique (représenté ici par une ligne bleue), c'est-à-dire la trajectoire que le Soleil semble suivre dans le ciel au cours d'une année. Le Soleil se trouve dans le Capricorne de la mi-janvier à la mi-février. Les autres planètes du système solaire se trouvent souvent dans le Capricorne. Le Capricorne se trouve juste au sud de l'équateur céleste et est visible pour tous les observateurs au sud du cercle polaire arctique. Le Capricorne est surtout visible le soir, en automne dans l'hémisphère nord et au printemps dans l'hémisphère sud. Au sud-est (en bas à gauche sur ce diagramme) de la constellation se trouve l'amas globulaire M30 (représenté ici par un cercle jaune sur lequel est superposé un signe plus). L'axe des y de ce diagramme est en degrés de déclinaison avec le nord en haut et l'axe des x est en heures d'ascension droite avec l'est à gauche. La taille des étoiles marquées ici correspond à la magnitude apparente de l'étoile, une mesure de sa luminosité apparente. Les points les plus gros représentent les étoiles les plus brillantes. Les lettres grecques indiquent les étoiles les plus brillantes de la constellation. Elles sont classées par ordre de luminosité, l'étoile la plus brillante étant étiquetée alpha, la deuxième plus brillante bêta, etc., bien que cet ordre ne soit pas toujours respecté à la lettre. Les lignes pointillées marquent les limites des constellations selon l'UAI et les lignes vertes pleines marquent l'une des formes couramment utilisées pour représenter les figures des constellations. Ni les limites des constellations, ni les lignes reliant les étoiles n'apparaissent sur le ciel.
Credit: Adapté par le Bureau de l'astronomie pour l'éducation de l'AIU à partir de l'original de l'AIU/Sky & Telescope

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

Aquarius Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Aquarius along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Aquarius is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Pegasus, Equuleus, Aquila, Capricornus, Piscis Austrinus, Sculptor, Cetus and Pisces. Aquarius lies on the ecliptic (shown here as a blue line), this is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun is in Aquarius from mid February to mid March. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Aquarius. Aquarius spans the celestial equator and is thus visible at some time in the year from all of planet Earth. In the most arctic or antarctic regions of the world, some parts of the constellation may not be visible. Aquarius is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. The yellow circles with plus symbols superimposed on them mark the globular clusters M2 and M72. The green circles superimposed on plus symbols mark the planetary nebulae NGC 7293 (the Helix Nebula) and NGC 7002 (the Saturn Nebula). M73 (marked with an x symbol) is a coincident grouping of stars previously erroneously classified as an open cluster. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination and with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by IAU/Sky & Telescope

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons