[Inmykombi (Geoff)]

I just read an article in the latest Sky and Telescope about " Gravitational micro-lensing "

In my opinion and from all the facts I have from Rick, this is quite a possible scenario in this case.

My understanding is that when a strong Gravity sorurce moves in front ( or is positioned in front of ) a background object, the light from the background object becomes distorted, or even can brighten many magnitudes significantly in a shrot period of time depending on the speed of the gravity source in the foreground which could move in front of the object behind.

Reff: Article on pages 34 to 38 of Australian Sky and Telescope....October Issue.

I can see no reason why this sort of event can be discounted from Ricks observation.
If we take into account the fact that a Globular Clutser has approx. 500,000 to 1 Million + stars in it, and knowing that most if not all maybe older type stars, I can see no reason why we can discount a strong gravity source such as a brown dwarf or other, that could move in front of a brighter star and cause this micro-lensing effect. especially when these clusters are so dense with stars.

The micro lensing effect then could cause a brighteneing of the background star if it were alligned perfectly with our eye and the gravity source in the fore ground.

This is only a suggestion. Maybe someone else has an explanation other than this or a micro-meteorite that others have suggested, and which I think is not the case.

I for one, love visual observing of Globs anyway, and keeping a keen eye on them in the future will not be a difficult task for me.

My advise is, keep lookin' Rick and keep reporting your observations.

Cheers mate.

Geoffro.