A dense globular cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), located about 157,000 light-years from Earth, has been imaged by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Globular clusters are very stable, tightly bound clusters of thousands or even millions of stars. Their stability means they can last a long time, and so globular clusters are often studied to search for potentially very old stellar populations.

Research in 2017 estimated that this globular cluster is probably 11.6 billion years old. While this is only a few billion years younger than the universe itself, this globular cluster is the youngest in their sample. All LMC globular clusters analysed in the same study were found to be older, with four of them being more than 13 billion years old.

This globular cluster is as interesting as it is beautiful, with a high density of stars. From the perspective of the inhabitants of a planet orbiting one of the stars at the centre of the globular cluster, the night sky would look very different: it would appear to be filled with stars in a stellar environment thousands of times more crowded than our own.

Image Description:

A dense star cluster. It is brightest and most crowded in the centre, where the stars are mostly cool white. As you move towards the edges, the stars become more diffuse and reddish, until you reach a distinct 'edge' of the cluster. Beyond this edge there are many stars that are more diffuse and appear on a black background. Some stars appear to be at the front of the cluster.