NGC 1818: A Young Globular Cluster
			
		
		
		
			Globular clusters once ruled the 
Milky Way. 
Back in the 
old days, back when our Galaxy first
formed, perhaps thousands of globular clusters roamed 
our Galaxy. 
Today, there are 
perhaps 200 left. 
Many
globular clusters were destroyed 
over the eons by repeated fateful encounters 
with each other or the 
Galactic center. 
Surviving relics are older than any Earth fossil, 
older than any 
other structures in our Galaxy, and 
limit the 
universe itself in raw age. 
There are few, if any, young 
globular clusters in our 
Milky Way Galaxy because
conditions are not ripe for more to form. 
Things are different next door, however, in the neighboring 
LMC galaxy.
Pictured above is a "young" globular cluster residing there: 
NGC 1818. 
Observations show it formed
only about 40 million years ago - 
just yesterday compared to the 12 billion year ages of 
globular clusters in our own 
Milky Way