1. A quick Primer for Astronomical Distances http://www.telescope.org/nuffield_21_sci/ast rounits.htm http://www.telescope.org/nuffield_21_sci/ast rounits.htm http://janus.astro.umd.edu/astro/distance/ http://heasarc.nasa.gov/docs/cosmic/earth.ht ml http://heasarc.nasa.gov/docs/cosmic/earth.ht ml

2. Star Clusters, Galaxies, & Black Holes Life and Death in a Community of Stars

3. Stars do not occur in space at completely arbitrary places. Some, such as the Sun, are single (field star), but others are members of pairs or form multiple-star systems. Still others form clusters of various types, and size. All of them are condensed from clouds of gas and dust.

4. Star Clusters Open Cluster Contain young stars Often with nebulous gases Example: Pleiades in Taurus Globular Cluster Contain old stars Tight mass due to stars being drawn by each others’ gravity. Example: M13 in Hercules

5. M45 – The Pleiades

6. M13 – the Hercules Cluster

7. The Milky Way – inside view

8. Milky Way – Outside View

9. Where we are…

10. Milky Way Q & A http://www.universetoday.com/21563/milky-way/

11. Sgr A – our very own Black Hole!

12. Other Galaxies to look for: M31

13. Other Galaxies to look for: M81 & M82

14. For more info… http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/as tronomy/stars/constellations.shtml