From: baalke@zagami.jpl.nasa.gov   
      
   INBOX ASTRONOMY: NEWS ALERT   
      
   FOR RELEASE: August 7, 2003   
      
   PHOTO NO.: STScI-PRC03-21   
      
   TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT   
      
   This Hubble Space Telescope view of the core of one of the nearest   
   globular star clusters, called NGC 6397, resembles a treasure chest   
   of glittering jewels. The cluster is located 8,200 light-years away   
   in the constellation Ara. Here, the stars are jam-packed together.   
   The stellar density is about a million times greater than in our   
   Sun's stellar neighborhood. The stars in NGC 6397 are also in   
   constant motion, like a swarm of angry bees. The ancient stars are   
   so crowded together that a few of them inevitably collide with each   
   other once in a while. Near misses are even more common.   
      
   This Hubble image is a mosaic of two sets of images taken several   
   years apart by the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Archival data from   
   science teams led by Jonathan Grindlay (Harvard University) and   
   Ivan King (University of California, Berkeley), taken in 1997 and   
   1999, were combined with Hubble Heritage data taken in 2001.   
   Adrienne Cool (San Francisco State University), who was also on   
   both archival science teams, worked with the Hubble Heritage team   
   to acquire the new observations.   
      
   Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)   
   Acknowledgment: A. Cool (SFSU)   
      
   To see and read more about globular star cluster NGC 6397, please   
   click on:   
      
   http://hubblesite.org/news/2003/21   
   http://heritage.stsci.edu/2003/21   
      
   The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the   
   Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA),   
   for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center,   
   Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of   
   international cooperation between NASA and the European Space   
   Agency (ESA).   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)