Illustrates the distribution of globular clusters from the Harlow Shapley model. This simulation shows the distribution of globular clusters around the plane of the Milky Way as determined by Harlow Shapley in 1918. The galactic longitudes, latitudes, and distances to the clusters are taken from Shapley's 1918 paper entitled "Studies Based on the Colors and Magnitudes in Stellar Clusters, Seventh Paper: The Distances, Distribution in Space, and Dimensions of 69 Globular Clusters." The Space View frame shows a 3D view of the distribution of the clusters around the galactic plane, along the location of the Sun and Shapley's location for the galactic center (as well as the boundary of what Shapley called the "Big Galaxy") as determined by the cluster distribution. Globular clusters are shown in different colors depending on how their distances were determined: using Cepheid variables (red), brightest stars in the cluster (green), or apparent diameter of the cluster (blue).

Requirements:
* Java 3D

The license of this software is Free, you can free download and free use this calculator software.