Some terms for space objects have a certain poetic majesty. Nebula. Quasar. Dark matter. Then there’s “globular cluster,” which doesn’t conjure as much mystery for many folks. But globular clusters are awesome. Here’s more on the galaxy’s largest globular cluster, from Astronomy Now:

Peering into the densely packed core of Omega Centauri, the Hubble Space Telescope provides a spell-binding look at one of the galaxy’s largest globular clusters, a swarm of more than two million suns some 17,000 light years from Earth. Easily visible to the unaided eye in the southern constellation Centaurus, Omega Centauri may harbour a black hole with about 40,000 times the mass of the Sun based on the higher-then-expected velocities of stars near its core. Astronomers have long theorised such intermediate-mass black holes may be a common feature of globular clusters, providing the gravitational glue holding the huge assemblies together.

See more!