Each day we feature a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. M15 has long been recognized as one of the densest cluster of stars in our galaxy outside of the galactic center itself. Even the unprecedented resolving power of the HST cameras could not separate the individual stars in its innermost regions. However, this HST image reveals that the density of stars continues to rise toward the cluster's core, suggesting that a sudden, runaway collapse due to the gravitational attraction of many closely packed stars or a single central massive object, perhaps a black hole , could account for the core's extreme density.
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