Submission + - Undergraduates Discover Densest Ultracompact Dwarf Galaxies (azoquantum.com)
Applehu Akbar writes: This discovery, using imaging data from several large telescopes, identifies two new ultracompact dwarf galaxies (UCD), M59-UCD3 and M85-HCC1.
UCDs are small galaxies that have stellar densities of, in the case of M85-HCC1, up a million times higher than Earth's stellar neighborhood. That would mean stars averaging one twentieth of a light year apart. In such a place our own Oort cloud would contain other stars.
Furthermore, these galaxies are considerably older than our own and contain an abundance of heavy elements.
UCDs are small galaxies that have stellar densities of, in the case of M85-HCC1, up a million times higher than Earth's stellar neighborhood. That would mean stars averaging one twentieth of a light year apart. In such a place our own Oort cloud would contain other stars.
Furthermore, these galaxies are considerably older than our own and contain an abundance of heavy elements.