A spherical cluster sparkles with starlight in a new image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
This globular cluster – officially known as Terzan 12 – is located 15,000 light-years from Earth, deep in our galaxy. milky way Galaxy, in the constellation Sagittarius. A globular cluster contains hundreds of thousands to millions of elements stars They are tightly bound together by gravity, which makes large structures appear spherical when viewed from Earth.
HubbleIt is a joint mission between NASA and… European Space AgencyA new view of Terzan 12 was captured covered in gas and dust, which absorbs and alters the starlight emitted by the moon. spherical mass. An even higher concentration of stars can be seen near the center of Terzan 12. This densely packed cluster shines bright in the new Hubble image.
Related: Mysterious globular clusters could reveal secrets of galaxy formation
“The Milky Way contains about 150 ancient globular clusters in its environs,” NASA officials said. he said in a statement. “These clusters orbit around the center of the galaxy, but far above and below the flat plane of our galaxy, like bees buzzing around a beehive.”
In the new Hubble image, interstellar dust particles scatter blue light, causing only the redder wavelengths of the cluster to appear into our view. The brightest red stars in the image are massive, aging giants several times larger than… the sun. The bright blue stars in the image are not part of the cluster; They are in the foreground, unobscured by interstellar material.
Hubble imaged Terzan 12 as part of an initiative to study globular clusters located toward the center of our galaxy, where there are relatively few compared to the Milky Way’s outer halo, according to a NASA statement.
Using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3, astronomers were able to study the relationship between the age and composition of the galaxy’s inner globular clusters, compared to those scattered throughout the Milky Way. NASA shared the twinkling image of Terzan 12 on Sept. 7.
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