Such sharp density distributions are not observed in other clusters, however, and require extraordinary stellar densities.

According to simulations, this object will look like a giant elliptical galaxy, but with a center showing less stellar density than current elliptical galaxies.

Typically, the volume used by astronomers to describe the stellar density is a cubic parsec (pc).

The true stellar density near the Sun is estimated as 0.004 stars per cubic light year, or 0.14 stars pc.

The locations within the Milky Way that have the highest stellar density are the central core and the interior of globular clusters.

In the solar neighborhood, the stellar density of a star cluster must be greater than 0.08 M pc in order to avoid tidal disruption.

Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, which gives them their spherical shapes and relatively high stellar densities toward their centers.

This is explained by the fact that Sculptor contains the south galactic pole where stellar density is very low.

In one direction the stellar density grew greater and greater, until vision saw it melt into a ruby globe like some huge talismanic sun.

The timescale over which a cluster disrupts depends on its initial stellar density, with more tightly packed clusters persisting for longer.