Astrophysics (Index)About

stellar nucleus

(galactic stellar nucleus, galactic nucleus, nuclear cluster, nuclear star cluster)
(group of many stars at the center of a galaxy)

The term stellar nucleus (or galactic stellar nucleus or galactic nucleus) is used to describe a dense group stars at the center of a galaxy. A compact stellar nucleus (CSN or nuclear star cluster, NSC) is one that is especially small, i.e., with a radius of a few parsecs at most, potentially only a fraction of a parsec. The density of stars can be extreme, e.g., millions of stars within a diameter matching the distance between the Sun and Alpha Centauri. These are common, perhaps occurring in most galaxies. They can be present in dwarf galaxies that lacks a central supermassive black hole (SMBH), and may can be present along with a galaxy's SMBH, which is true of the Milky Way, which has the S-Star Cluster surrounding its SMBH, Sag A*.


(galaxies)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_star_cluster
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002A%26A...388..766S/abstract
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/G/Galactic+Nuclei
https://medium.com/island-universes/the-incredible-stellar-density-of-the-galactic-center-cf11ad370620
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020A%26ARv..28....4N/abstract
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020ApJ...900...32P/abstract

Referenced by pages:
bulge
galactic bulge
galactic center
hypercompact stellar system (HCSS)
S-Star Cluster
stellar dynamics

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