Which dense young star cluster lies near the Milky Way's Galactic Center?

The dense young star cluster near the Milky Way’s Galactic Center is the Arches Cluster.

The Arches Cluster lies in Sagittarius, roughly 100 light-years from the Galactic Center and about 25,000 light-years from Earth. It is one of the densest known star clusters in the Milky Way and contains many massive, hot stars, including Wolf–Rayet stars and O-type hypergiants. Its estimated age is only about 2.5 million years, making it extremely young compared with ancient globular clusters.

Dust near the Galactic Center blocks visible light, so astronomers study the Arches Cluster mainly through infrared, X-ray, and radio observations. The cluster was reported in 1995 and independently in 1996, after infrared techniques made it possible to see through the heavy obscuration.

The nearby Quintuplet Cluster is an important source of confusion. It is also a young, massive cluster about 100 light-years from the Galactic Center, but the Arches Cluster is generally denser and slightly younger. The Pleiades, Hyades, and Coma Star Cluster are much less extreme and are not located near the Galactic Center.