The Center of Globular Cluster Omega Centauri
			
		
		
		
			What is left over after stars collide?  
To help answer this question, 
astronomers have been studying the center of the 
most massive ball of stars in our 
Milky Way Galaxy.  
In the center of 
globular cluster 
Omega Centauri, stars are packed in 
10,000 times more densely than near our Sun.  
Pictured above, the 
Hubble Space Telescope 
has resolved the very center of 
Omega Centauri into individual stars.  
Visible are many faint yellow-white stars that are smaller than our 
Sun, 
several yellow-orange stars that are 
Red Giants, and an occasional
 blue star.  
When two stars collide they likely either combine 
to form one more massive star, 
or they stick, forming a new 
binary star system.  
Close binary stars interact, 
sometimes emitting 
ultraviolet or 
X-ray light when gas falls from one star 
onto the surface of a compact companion such as a 
white dwarf or 
neutron star.  
Two such binaries have now been located in 
Omega Centauri's center.  
The star cluster lies about 15,000 
light-years 
away and is visible toward the constellation of 
Centaurus.