August 7, 2003: This Hubble Space Telescope view of the core of
one of the nearest globular star clusters, called NGC 6397,
resembles a treasure chest of glittering jewels. The cluster is
located 8,200 light-years away in the constellation Ara. Here,
the stars are jam-packed together. The stellar density is about
a million times greater than in our Sun's stellar neighborhood.
The stars in NGC 6397 are also in constant motion, like a swarm
of angry bees. The ancient stars are so crowded together that a
few of them inevitably collide with each other once in a while.
Near misses are even more common.See the rest: The stellar
density is about a million times greater than in our Sun's
stellar neighborhood. The stars are only a few light-weeks
apart, while the nearest star to our Sun is over four light-
years away. The ancient stars are s o crowded together that a
few of them inevitably collide with each other once in a while.
Near misses are even more common. Even so, collisions only occur
every few million years o