Hubble Captures a Cluster in the Heart of the Milky Way
This sparkling starfield, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys, contains the globular cluster ESO 520-21, a densely packed, roughly spherical collection of stars. The cluster, also known as Palomar 6, lies close to the center of the Milky Way, where interstellar gas and dust absorb starlight and make observations more challenging.
Interstellar absorption affects some wavelengths of light more than others, causing astronomical objects to appear redder than they actually are. This process, called “reddening,” makes it difficult to determine the properties of globular clusters close to the galactic center.
ESO 520-21 lies in the constellation Ophiuchus, near the celestial equator. Ophiuchus was one of the 48 constellations included in the writings of the second-century Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy, all of which are among the 88 constellations officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union today.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, R. Cohen
Hubble Captures a Cluster in the Heart of the Milky Way
This sparkling starfield, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys, contains the globular cluster ESO 520-21, a densely packed, roughly spherical collection of stars. The cluster, also known as Palomar 6, lies close to the center of the Milky Way, where interstellar gas and dust absorb starlight and make observations more challenging.
Interstellar absorption affects some wavelengths of light more than others, causing astronomical objects to appear redder than they actually are. This process, called “reddening,” makes it difficult to determine the properties of globular clusters close to the galactic center.
ESO 520-21 lies in the constellation Ophiuchus, near the celestial equator. Ophiuchus was one of the 48 constellations included in the writings of the second-century Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy, all of which are among the 88 constellations officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union today.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, R. Cohen