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. But things are different next
door - in the neighboring LMC galaxy.
Pictured above is a "young" globular cluster residing
there: NGC 1818.
Recent 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