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How crowded are the centres of globular clusters compared with the solar neighbourhood?
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Globular cluster
Globular cluster M13.
The centres of globular clusters are significantly more crowded than the solar neighbourhood.
In the solar neighbourhood, the density of stars is approximately one star per 300 cubic light-years. By contrast, the density near the centres of globular clusters is roughly two stars per cubic light-year. This high concentration of stars is a defining physical characteristic of these ancient, spherical systems, which contain thousands to hundreds of thousands of stars packed closely together.12