An Island of Stars in a Sea of Stars

I find some astronomical objects curious not so much in and of themselves, but also because of where they're located. Take M11, also called the Wild Duck Cluster. It's about 6,000 light years away, and it's an open (or galactic) cluster consists of about 3,000 stars. The cluster is something over 200 million years old, making it middle-aged; after a billion years or so such clusters dissipate as their stars interact gravitationally, ejecting members ones after another. It's still pretty compact,...