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Science 3 August 1984:
Vol. 225. no. 4661, pp. 465 - 472
DOI: 10.1126/science.225.4661.465
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Articles

Dynamics of Globular Clusters

Lyman Spitzer Jr. 1

1 Charles A. Young Professor of Astronomy, Emeritus, at the Princeton University Observatory, Princeton, New Jersey 08544.

In their attempt to reach kinetic equilibrium, through gravitational encounters between separate stars, globular clusters are driven to destruction, with their cores collapsing and their outer regions expanding. The effects of core collapse, which apparently produces x-ray sources, are not yet fully understood, but white dwarfs and neutron stars, probably in binary systems, are thought to be involved, and possibly black holes as well.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)