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Of Time and Space and Other ThingsHowever, we can't see the Galactic nucleus and that's that. Is there anything even faintly approaching such a multi-explosion that we can see? There's one conceivable possibility. Here and there, in our Galaxy, are to be found globular clusters. It is estimated there are about 200 of these per galaxy. (About a hundred of our own clusters have been observed, and the other hundred are probably obscured by the dust clouds.) These globular clusters are like detached bits of galactic nuclei, 100 light-years or so in diameter and containing from 100,000 to 10,000,000 stars-symmctricary scat tered about the galactic center. The largest known globular cluster is the Great Hercules Cluster, M13, but it is not the closest. The nearest globular cluster is Omega Centauri, which is 22,000 light-years from us and is clearly visible to the naked eye as an object of the fifth magnitude. It is only a point of light to the naked eye, however, for at that distance even a diameter of 100 light years covers an area of only about 1.5 minutes of arc in diameter ...» | Код для вставки книги в блог HTML
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