Note: Intro -- Dedication -- Preface -- About the Author -- Contents -- 1.: Initial Observations -- Introduction -- Historical Observations -- Open, Globular or Simply Associated? -- The Hertzsprung-Russell and Color-­Magnitude Diagrams -- Luminosity Classes of Stars -- A Schism Between Open and Globular Clusters: Observational Bias? -- How Star Clusters Revealed the Structure of the Milky Way -- Conclusions -- 2.: Adventures in Stellar Evolution -- Introduction -- Star Formation: Standard Monolithic Models -- Discs and Jets -- Cracks Within the Monolith -- Realistic Models for the Formation of Star Clusters -- Starburst Formation of Clusters -- Cluster Formation and the Evolution of Galaxies -- The Lives of Stars -- Brief Lives: An Overview of the Lives of Massive Stars -- Intermediate Mass Stars -- Sun-Like Stars -- The Fate of the Smallest Stars in the Universe -- Corpses -- Cosmic Recycling -- Conclusions -- 3.: Variable Stars -- Introduction -- Low and Intermediate Mass Stars from Birth Through Middle Age and Death -- The Music of the Stars -- A Varying Journey Through Time -- T Tauri Stars -- Delta Scuti Stars -- Exit Stage Left -- Semi-regular Variable Stars -- The Horizontal Branch -- W Virginis Stars -- Mira Variables -- OH/IR Variables -- RV Tauri Stars -- ZZ Ceti Stars -- Young, Fickle and Massive -- Herbig Ae/Be stars -- Be Stars -- Supergiant Variable Stars -- Luminous Blue Variables and Wolf-Rayet Stars -- Cataclysmic Variables -- Conclusions -- 4.: Globular Cluster Formation -- Introduction -- The Stars of Globular Clusters -- Cluster Formation: A Reprise -- What Do Observations of Globular Clusters Tell Us About How They Formed? -- Secret Agents: Dwarf Galaxies Masquerading as Star Clusters -- Omega Centauri and Its Kin -- The Problem -- A Question of Mass -- A Helium Clue -- Evidence from the Physical Distribution of Stars. , Do Observations of Young Globular Clusters Back Up This Model? -- Salt in the Diet -- Do Helium-Rich Main Sequence Stars Become Helium-Rich Geriatrics? -- A (Somewhat Silly) Gedankenexperiment -- A Summary: A Confusing Picture Painted with Salt -- Have Globular Clusters Been Consigned to the Dustbin of History? -- Conclusions -- 5.: Open Clusters -- Introduction -- The Structure of Open Clusters -- Old Yet Open? -- Classification of Open Clusters -- How Birth Determines Life -- How Open Clusters Come Apart -- Location, Location, Location -- Planets in Globular Clusters -- Conclusions -- 6.: Stellar Soap Operas -- Introduction -- Binary Star Systems -- General Principles -- Young Clusters -- Lurid Marriages and Messy Divorces -- Two Routes to Blue -- Beyond the Blue: The Twisted Fates of Cluster Stars -- W Ursa Majoris Stars -- How Binary Stars Can Affect One Another: SN 1993J -- How Westerlund-1 Solved the Puzzle of Magnetars -- Pair Instability: The Unfolding Stories of SN 2006gy and SN 2007bi -- The Likely Tale of a Massive Straggler -- X-Ray Binary Systems -- The Universe's Loneliest Supernovae -- Type Ia Supernovae and Beyond -- Conclusions -- 7.: The Complex Lives of Globular Clusters -- Introduction -- Speed, Distance and Crossing Time -- Violent Relaxation -- The Two-Body Relaxation Time -- Disc Shocking -- Core Collapse -- The Large Magellanic Cloud: Snapshots of Creation -- Ring Clusters -- Hodge 11 -- M33: A Brief Tale of Two Clusters -- Core Collapse in M33 -- The Young Clusters of M82: MGG 9 and 11, Density and Fate -- Giant Elliptical Galaxies -- Adrift in a Sea of Galaxies -- Cluster Evaporation -- Multiple Populations of Stars: An Afterthought -- Conclusions -- 8.: From Science Fiction to the Reality of Planets in Star Clusters -- Introduction -- Living Worlds -- Along Came a Spider: What Life (Appears) to Need to Arise. , Limited Clues from an Earthly Tree -- Energy, Entropy and Evolution -- Capturing Energy -- Is Life on Earth a Reasonable Model for Life Elsewhere? -- The Galaxy's Oldest Planet? -- A Planet Pair for Kapteyn's Star -- Visions of Heaven: The Artistic and Visionary View from the Surface of a Cluster World -- Planets in the Open Cluster, M67 -- The Fate of M4's Pulsar Planet -- Conclusions -- 9.: Milkomeda and the Fate of the Milky Way -- Introduction -- The Inevitability of Collisions in the Local Group -- Low Metallicity High Velocity Clouds and Star Formation -- Harassment and Merging Between M33 and M31 -- The Fate of M31 and the Milky Way's Dwarf Satellites -- The Grand Collision -- The Fate of Milkomeda -- Galactic Dissolution -- Conclusions -- Glossary -- Further Reading -- Chapter 1-Historical Perspectives -- Chapter 2-Adventures in Stellar Evolution -- Chapter 3-Variable Stars in Clusters -- Chapter 4-Globular Cluster Formation -- Chapter 5-Open Clusters -- Chapter 6-Stellar Soap Operas -- Chapter 7-The Complex Life of Globular Clusters -- Chapter 8-One Thousand Rubies in the Sky -- Chapter 9-Milkomeda and the Fate of the Milky Way -- Index.