View allAll Photos Tagged globularcluster
Lights 50 x 60s f/5 ISO 400
Darks 30 x
Bias 99 x
Flats 108 x
Imaging: Canon 50D mounted on Skywatcher equinox 80mm with Televue TRF-2008 Reducer/Flattener
Guiding: Orion Starshoot on Skywatcher 80mm f/5 refractor.
I decided that i had enough lights and they were such good quality that 2x drizzle might make image a bit better with 2 x drizzle. Also updated with proper flats. Also did some PP to remove light pollution gradient.
This is an update to my previous M13 image: www.flickr.com/photos/torbenh/5737001536/
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster NGC 1898 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. (I liked the original title and so left it unchanged.) Color/processing variant.
Original caption: This glittering ball of stars is the globular cluster NGC 1898, which lies towards the centre of the Large Magellanic Cloud — one of our closest cosmic neighbours. The Large Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy that hosts an extremely rich population of star clusters, making it an ideal laboratory for investigating star formation. Discovered in November 1834 by British astronomer John Herschel, NGC 1898 has been scrutinised numerous times by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Today we know that globular clusters belong to the oldest known objects in the Universe and that they are relics of the first epochs of galaxy formation. While we already have a pretty good picture on the globular clusters of the Milky Way — still with many unanswered questions — our studies on globular clusters in nearby dwarf galaxies just started. The observations of NGC 1898 will help to determine if their properties are similar to the ones found in the Milky Way, or if they have different features, due to being in a different cosmic environment. This image was taken by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The WFC3 observes light ranging from near-infrared to near-ultraviolet wavelengths, while the ACS explores the near-infrared to the ultraviolet.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster NGC 6139.
Original caption: This rich and dense smattering of stars is a massive globular cluster, a gravitationally-bound collection of stars that orbits the Milky Way. Globular clusters are denser and more spherical than open star clusters like the famous Pleiades. They typically contain hundreds of thousands of stars that are thought to have formed at roughly the same time. Studies have shown that this globular cluster, named NGC 6139, is home to an aging population of stars. Most globular clusters orbiting the Milky Way are estimated to be over 10 billion years old; as a result they contain some of the oldest stars in our galaxy, formed very early in the galaxy’s history. However, their role in galactic evolution is still a matter of study. This cluster is seen roughly in the direction of the centre of the Milky Way, in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion). This constellation is a goldmine of fascinating astronomical objects. Hubble has set its sights on Scorpius many times to observe objects such as the butterfly-like Bug Nebula, surprising binary star systems, and other dazzling globular clusters.
Equipment: Nikon D5300, Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4D IF-ED lens, and iOptron Skytracker. Taken at 300mm, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 104 frames of 20" each plus 50 darks. Stacked in Regim and cropped/processed in Lightroom.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster Messier 75.
Original caption: This sparkling burst of stars is Messier 75. It is a globular cluster: a spherical collection of stars bound together by gravity. Clusters like this orbit around galaxies and typically reside in their outer and less-crowded areas, gathering to form dense communities in the galactic suburbs. Messier 75 lies in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), around 67 000 light-years away from Earth. The majority of the cluster’s stars, about 400 000 intotal, are found in its core; it is one of the most densely populated clusters ever found, with a phenomenal luminosity of some 180 000 times that of the Sun. No wonder it photographs so well! Discovered in 1780 by Pierre Méchain, Messier 75 was also observed by Charles Messier and added to his catalogue later that year. This image of Messier 75 was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.
In the constellation Hercules. Thought to contain several hundred thousand stars the cluster is 22,500 light years from earth. Just visible above is NGC 6207 an edge-on spiral galaxy.
M3 (NGC 5272) is a globular cluster containing more than a half million stars. Located in the constellation Canes Venatici near the bright star Arcturus, the cluster is about 34,000 light years away. It is approximately 90 light years across and is more than 8 billion years old!
Seeing and transparency were terrible, but I wanted to test some new tweaks to my setup. Imaged from Lake St Louis, MO (an orange zone) on 4/16/2015 with a C8, EQ6, and T1i. 26 x 120s w Darks, Flats, Bias
Equipment: Nikon D5300, Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD lens, and iOptron Skytracker. Taken at 300mm, f/8.0, ISO 6400, 58 frames of 30 seconds each plus 60 darks. Stacked in Regim and cropped/processed in Lightroom.
The globular cluster M13 found in the constellation Hercules.
5 x 4 min guided exposures taken at prime focus through my Celestron EdgeHD with a Canon 450D - FL = 1480mm
More astro pix at www.digitalrust.co.uk/astrophotography.html
Another take on M15 - reworking with a slightly different data set.
Same set of lights, recalibrated with no scaling in Maxim. Also, changed up the PI steps a little to keep from burning the birightest stars.
Otherwise, it's pretty much the same.
Celestron C925 on a CGEM
Canon 7D at prime focus
F/6.3 Focal Reducer
5x30second exposures
Stacked and Processed in Photoshop CS4
Manually guided off-axis for 5 x 15 & 1 x 10-minute exposures at f10, ISO 1600. Subs registered & stacked using DeepSkyStacker software.
Unmodded EOS 40D & Celestron C8 telescope.
Celestron C8 telescope & Canon EOS 40D
5 x 10-minute exposures at ISO 1600, f10, manually off-axis guided. Images registered & stacked using DeepSkyStacker software; post-processed using Canon Photo Professional and Noel Carboni's astronomy tools in Photoshop Elements.
Borg 101ED with Nikon d5300
Only 2x120s and 2 darks.
Pretty noisy but I am getting as many Messier globs as I can. I want more data for this one.
M53, due north of our galaxy core, this is the most northern galactic globular cluster; it is approximately 60,000 light years away. I made this image by using DSS to stack 99 of the frames that I captured yesterday using a Canon EOS 60D mounted onto a Skywatcher 200 reflector
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster Messier 53. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: Thousands and thousands of brilliant stars make up this globular cluster, Messier 53, captured with crystal clarity in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Bound tightly by gravity, the cluster is roughly spherical and becomes denser towards its heart. These enormous sparkling spheres are by no means rare, and over 150 exist in the Milky Way alone, including Messier 53. It lies on the outer edges of the galaxy, where many other globular clusters are found, almost equally distant from both the centre of our galaxy and the Sun. Although they are relatively common, the famous astronomer William Herschel, not at all known for his poetic nature, once described a globular cluster as “one of the most beautiful objects I remember to have seen in the heavens”, and it is clear to see why. Globular clusters are much older and larger than open clusters, meaning they are generally expected to contain more old red stars and fewer massive blue stars. But Messier 53 has surprised astronomers with its unusual number of a type of star called blue stragglers. These youngsters are rebelling against the theory of stellar evolution. All the stars in a globular cluster are expected to form around the same time, so they are expected follow a specific trend set by the age of the cluster and based on their mass. But blue stragglers don’t follow that rule; they appear to be brighter and more youthful than they have any right to be. Although their precise nature remains mysterious these unusual objects are probably formed by close encounters, possibly collisions, between stars in the crowded centres of globular clusters. This picture was put together from visible and infrared exposures taken with the Wide Field Channel of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys.The field of view is approximately 3.4 arcminutes across.
Three deep sky objects, in only two minutes, from a city suburb with the cheapest canon lens!
Still testing my bargain astro-photography setup.
This is four 30-second frames at ISO400 taken last night with a 50mm f1.8 set at f2.8. I was testing a home-made camera bracket fixed to an ebay-bargain etx70 telescope. Once it was focussed and composed I set the remote to take 30-second frames continuously, then walked away. The first and last frames always had vibration from me walking on the elevated deck but in between there were some steady ones. I combined the four best in photoshop, auto aligned, adjusted with curves and “dodged” the deep sky objects.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster Messier 75. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: This sparkling burst of stars is Messier 75. It is a globular cluster: a spherical collection of stars bound together by gravity. Clusters like this orbit around galaxies and typically reside in their outer and less-crowded areas, gathering to form dense communities in the galactic suburbs. Messier 75 lies in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), around 67 000 light-years away from Earth. The majority of the cluster’s stars, about 400 000 intotal, are found in its core; it is one of the most densely populated clusters ever found, with a phenomenal luminosity of some 180 000 times that of the Sun. No wonder it photographs so well! Discovered in 1780 by Pierre Méchain, Messier 75 was also observed by Charles Messier and added to his catalogue later that year. This image of Messier 75 was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.
This is a stack of 4 images of the Messier object M3. It is a globular cluster of apparent magnitude 6.3, making it one of the brightest globs in the sky.
This is a stack of four 3 minute exposures at 1600 ISO. Guiding was the Orion Starshoot Autoguider with PHD software. Losmandy GM-8 mount. PP with UFRaw to set whitebalance with curves and GIMP for stacking.
Looks pretty good on black.
Lights 50 x 60s f/5 ISO 400
Darks 30 x
Bias 99 x
Flats 72 x
Imaging: Canon 50D on Skywatcher equinox 80mm with Televue TRF-2008 Reducer/Flattener
Guiding: Orion Starshoot on Skywatcher 80mm f/5 refractor.
I accidentally used flats from my 300mm telephoto lens, so vignetting is a bit reversed, and dust spots do not cover up correctly. I was going to redo processing with usual Equinox flats, but then i realized that this was taken with my reducer/flattener. So I'm going to need to take some new flats. So I decided to just upload as is, and will update soon.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster Messier 75. Inverted grayscale variant.
Original caption: This sparkling burst of stars is Messier 75. It is a globular cluster: a spherical collection of stars bound together by gravity. Clusters like this orbit around galaxies and typically reside in their outer and less-crowded areas, gathering to form dense communities in the galactic suburbs. Messier 75 lies in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), around 67 000 light-years away from Earth. The majority of the cluster’s stars, about 400 000 intotal, are found in its core; it is one of the most densely populated clusters ever found, with a phenomenal luminosity of some 180 000 times that of the Sun. No wonder it photographs so well! Discovered in 1780 by Pierre Méchain, Messier 75 was also observed by Charles Messier and added to his catalogue later that year. This image of Messier 75 was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster M22.
Original caption: This image shows the centre of the globular cluster Messier 22, also known as M22, as observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Globular clusters are spherical collections of densely packed stars, relics of the early years of the Universe, with ages of typically 12 to 13 billion years. This is very old considering that the Universe is only 13.8 billion years old. Messier 22 is one of about 150 globular clusters in the Milky Way and at just 10 000 light-years away it is also one of the closest to Earth. It was discovered in 1665 by Abraham Ihle, making it one of the first globulars ever to be discovered. This is not so surprising as it is one of the brightest globular clusters visible from the northern hemisphere, located in the constellation of Sagittarius, close to the Galactic Bulge — the dense mass of stars at the centre of the Milky Way. The cluster has a diameter of about 70 light-years and, when looking from Earth, appears to take up a patch of sky the size of the full Moon. Despite its relative proximity to us, the light from the stars in the cluster is not as bright as it should be as it is dimmed by dust and gas located between us and the cluster. As they are leftovers from the early Universe, globular clusters are popular study objects for astronomers. M22 in particular has fascinating additional features: six planet-sized objects that are not orbiting a star have been detected in the cluster, it seems to host two black holes, and the cluster is one of only three ever found to host a planetary nebula — a short-lived gaseous shells ejected by massive stars at the ends of their lives.
Messier 15 (M15) Globular Cluster hovering out in the blackness. Also known as NGC 7078, M15 is a densely packed cluster of stars in the constellation Pegasus. It is 33.6 light years away and over 13 billion years old.
This image was from my first session putting the new telescope through it's paces. This was done on an Alt/Az mount (not equatorial), so field rotation is present during the exposure. Star trails are evident with even this short 30 second exposure. 300 second exposures were hopelessly streaked. I also am thinking I need to collimate the optics since it was shipped halfway across the U.S.!
12" Meade LX200 GPS Schmidt-Cassegrain @ Prime Focus
Alt/Az Mount
305mm apeture
3048 mm focal length + f6.3 focal reducer
Canon T1i @ ISO 800, 1 30-second exposure w/in-camera noise reduction.
Post-processing in Adobe Photoshop.
The bright star at upper left is Gamma Sagittae. The loose open cluster H20 can be seen at the bottom of the frame to the right of M71.
Equipment: Nikon D5300, Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD lens, and iOptron Skytracker. Taken at 300mm, f/8.0, ISO 8000, 55 frames of 30 seconds each plus 30 darks. Stacked in Regim and cropped/processed in Lightroom.
M9 is a globular cluster in the constellation of Ophiuchus. It is 25,800 light-years away and is about 90 light-years in diameter.
It is one of the nearer globular clusters to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy (5,500 light-years from the Galactic Core).
Sky-Watcher newton 254/1200
Baader MPCC Mark 3
Sky-Watcher AZEQ6
Canon 450Dm + IDAS LPS-P2 filter
90x30s @ ISO1600 (45 min)
Lacerta MGEN2 + Finder 9x50
Calibrated, registered, stacked & processed in PixInsight.
Labels in PS5.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster Messier 28. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: This Hubble Picture of the Week shows Messier 28, a globular cluster in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), in jewel-bright detail. It is about 18 000 light-years away from Earth. As its name suggests, this cluster belongs to the Messier catalogue of objects — however, when astronomer Charles Messier first added Messier 28 to his list in 1764, he catalogued it incorrectly, referring to it as a “[round] nebula containing no star”. While today we know nebulae to be vast, often glowing clouds of interstellar dust and ionised gases, until the early twentieth century a nebula represented any astronomical object that was not clearly localised and isolated. Any unidentified hazy light source could be called a nebula. In fact, all 110 of the astronomical objects identified by Messier were combined under the title of the Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters. He classified many objects as diverse as star clusters and supernova remnants as nebulae. This includes Messier 28, pictured here — which, ironically, is actually a star cluster. Messier’s mistake is understandable. Whilst Messier 28 is easily recognisable as a globular stellar cluster in this image, it is far less recognisable from Earth. Even with binoculars it is only visible very faintly, as the distorting effects of the Earth’s atmosphere reduce this luminous ancient cluster to a barely visible smudge in the sky. One would need larger telescopes to resolve single stars in Messier 28. Fortunately, from space Hubble allows Messier 28 to be seen in all its beauty — far more than a faint, shapeless, nebulous cloud.
Globular Cluster in Hercules (M92)
A composite of 6 thirty second exposures thru my Meade LX200 telescope using my Meade DSI Pro III imager. The individual captures were calibrated using dark frames and flat frames and then stacked and processed using Stark Labs' nebulosity software. The telescope was guided during the exposures by an Orion 80mm Short Tube telescope with a Meade DSI Pro imager driven by Stark Lab's PHD autoguiding software. All light frames were taken through a Meade L (IR) CCD filter—no color information was captured for this object at this time. Light frames were imaged on April 26, 2009 between 2:17 AM and 2:25 AM near Ellenville, NY.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope (reprocessed - I uploaded a version of this image last fall) of the globular cluster NGC 1898 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: This glittering ball of stars is the globular cluster NGC 1898, which lies towards the centre of the Large Magellanic Cloud — one of our closest cosmic neighbours. The Large Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy that hosts an extremely rich population of star clusters, making it an ideal laboratory for investigating star formation. Discovered in November 1834 by British astronomer John Herschel, NGC 1898 has been scrutinised numerous times by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Today we know that globular clusters belong to the oldest known objects in the Universe and that they are relics of the first epochs of galaxy formation. While we already have a pretty good picture on the globular clusters of the Milky Way — still with many unanswered questions — our studies on globular clusters in nearby dwarf galaxies just started. The observations of NGC 1898 will help to determine if their properties are similar to the ones found in the Milky Way, or if they have different features, due to being in a different cosmic environment. This image was taken by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The WFC3 observes light ranging from near-infrared to near-ultraviolet wavelengths, while the ACS explores the near-infrared to the ultraviolet.
Camera: Meade DSI Color II
Exposure: 15m LRGB exposure (30 x 30s RGB and Lum Exposures)
Focus Method: Prime focus
Telescope Aperature/Focal Length: 203×812mm
Mount: LXD75
Telescope: Meade 8" Schmidt-Newtonian
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Adjustments: leveled/sharpened in Photoshop
Location: Flintstone, GA
Camera: Meade DSI Color II
Exposure: 14m (14 x 1m) LRGB
Focus Method: Prime focus
Telescope Aperature/Focal Length: 203×812mm
Mount: LXD75
Telescope: Meade 8" Schmidt-Newtonian
Guided: No
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Adjustments: cropped/leveled in Photoshop
Location: Flintstone, GA
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster M79.
Original caption: It's beginning to look a lot like the holiday season in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of a blizzard of stars, which resembles a swirling snowstorm in a snow globe.
The stars are residents of the globular star cluster Messier 79, or M79, located 41,000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Lepus. The cluster is also known as NGC 1904.
Globular clusters are gravitationally bound groupings of as many as 1 million stars. M79 contains about 150,000 stars packed into an area measuring only 118 light-years across. These giant "star-globes" contain some of the oldest stars in our galaxy, estimated to be 11.7 billion years old.
Most globular clusters are grouped around the central hub of our pinwheel-shaped galaxy. However, M79's home is nearly on the opposite side of the sky from the direction of the galactic center. One idea for the cluster's unusual location is that its neighborhood may contain a higher-than-average density of stars, which fueled its formation. Another possibility is that M79 may have formed in an unusual dwarf galaxy that is merging with the Milky Way.
In the Hubble image, Sun-like stars appear yellow. The reddish stars are bright giants that represent the final stages of a star's life. Most of the blue stars sprinkled throughout the cluster are aging "helium-burning" stars. These bright blue stars have exhausted their hydrogen fuel and are now fusing helium in their cores.
A scattering of fainter blue stars are "blue stragglers." These unusual stars glow in blue light, mimicking the appearance of hot, young stars. Blue stragglers form either by the merger of stars in a binary system or by the collision of two unrelated stars in M79's crowded core.
The star cluster was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780. Méchain reported the finding to Charles Messier, who included it in his catalog of non-cometary objects. About four years later, using a larger telescope than Messier's, William Herschel resolved the stars in M79, and described it as a "globular star cluster."
The image is a combination of observations taken in 1995 and 1997 by Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. The red, green, and blue colors used to compose the image represent a natural view of the cluster.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington, D.C.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster Messier 28. Inverted grayscale variant.
Original caption: This Hubble Picture of the Week shows Messier 28, a globular cluster in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), in jewel-bright detail. It is about 18 000 light-years away from Earth. As its name suggests, this cluster belongs to the Messier catalogue of objects — however, when astronomer Charles Messier first added Messier 28 to his list in 1764, he catalogued it incorrectly, referring to it as a “[round] nebula containing no star”. While today we know nebulae to be vast, often glowing clouds of interstellar dust and ionised gases, until the early twentieth century a nebula represented any astronomical object that was not clearly localised and isolated. Any unidentified hazy light source could be called a nebula. In fact, all 110 of the astronomical objects identified by Messier were combined under the title of the Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters. He classified many objects as diverse as star clusters and supernova remnants as nebulae. This includes Messier 28, pictured here — which, ironically, is actually a star cluster. Messier’s mistake is understandable. Whilst Messier 28 is easily recognisable as a globular stellar cluster in this image, it is far less recognisable from Earth. Even with binoculars it is only visible very faintly, as the distorting effects of the Earth’s atmosphere reduce this luminous ancient cluster to a barely visible smudge in the sky. One would need larger telescopes to resolve single stars in Messier 28. Fortunately, from space Hubble allows Messier 28 to be seen in all its beauty — far more than a faint, shapeless, nebulous cloud.
Equipment: Nikon D5300, Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD lens, and iOptron Skytracker. Taken at 300mm, f/8.0, ISO 6400, 30 frames of 30 seconds each plus 60 darks. Stacked in Regim and cropped/processed in Lightroom.
This is a spectacular globular star cluster in Hercules, however, it is often overlooked in favour of the even more spectacular M13 nearby. This cluster contains anything up to about half a million stars compressed into a region only about 100 light years across. Globular clusters are some of the oldest objects in the galaxy.
Taken by Richard Bullock from Wilmslow in Cheshire in April 2005. It's a combination of 12 images of 15 seconds each through an 8 inch LX90 telescope.
M5 is a globular cluster about 24,500 light-years from Earth seen in the constellation Serpens. It spans 165 light years and contains between 100,000 and 500,000 stars depending on different estimates. Not only is it one of the larger globular clusters known, at 13 billion years old it is also one of the older globulars associated with the Milky Way Galaxy. Taken on 9th March 2015 - 57 x 15 second exposures at 6400 ISO plus 10 dark frames and 8 flat frames.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster NGC 6441. Color/processing variant.
Almost like snowflakes, the stars of the globular cluster NGC 6441 sparkle peacefully in the night sky, about 13 000 light-years from the Milky Way’s galactic centre. Like snowflakes, the exact number of stars in such a cluster is difficult to discern. It is estimated that together the stars weigh 1.6 million times the mass of the Sun, making NGC 6441 one of the most massive and luminous globular clusters in the Milky Way. NGC 6441 is host to four pulsars that each complete a single rotation in a few milliseconds. Also hidden within this cluster is JaFu 2, a planetary nebula. Despite its name, this has little to do with planets. A phase in the evolution of intermediate-mass stars, planetary nebulae last for only a few tens of thousands of years, the blink of an eye on astronomical timescales. There are about 150 known globular clusters in the Milky Way. Globular clusters contain some of the first stars to be produced in a galaxy, but the details of their origins and evolution still elude astronomers.
Messier 69
Stack Size:30
Exposure: 45s
ISO: 6400
Lens: 8in SCT with f/6.3 focal reducer
Camera: Canon Rebel T7i with Astro Mod
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster Messier 2, one of the largest in (and around) the Milky Way Galaxy. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: Star clusters are commonly featured in cosmic photoshoots, and are also well-loved by the keen eye of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. These large gatherings of celestial gems are striking sights — and the subject of this Picture of the Week, Messier 2, is certainly no exception. Messier 2 is located in the constellation of Aquarius (The Water-Bearer), about 55 000 light-years away. It is a globular cluster, a spherical group of stars all tightly bound together by gravity. With a diameter of roughly 175 light-years, a population of 150 000 stars, and an age of 13 billion years, Messier 2 is one of the largest clusters of its kind and one of the oldest associated with the Milky Way. This Hubble image of Messier 2’s core was created using visible and infrared light. Most of the cluster’s mass is concentrated at its centre, with shimmering streams of stars extending outwards into space. It is bright enough that it can even be seen with the naked eye when observing conditions are extremely good.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster Fornax 1 in the Fornax dwarf galaxy.
Original caption: This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the globular cluster Fornax 1 in the dwarf galaxy Fornax. New observations of this cluster and three others in the galaxy show that they are very similar to those found in our galaxy, the Milky Way. The finding is at odds with leading theories on how these clusters form — in these theories, globular clusters should be nestled among large quantities of old stars — and so the mystery of how these objects came to exist deepens. This cluster’s position within the galaxy is shown in image G.
Done with a Meade 7 inch APO Refacting Telescope and a Nikon D-50 @ Prime Focus and ASA 1600, Orion Light Pollution Filter.
4-10 Minute Exposures
This is the great globular cluster in the constellation Hercules. A globular cluster is like a itsy-bitsy galaxy, with only a few hundred thousand stars instead of the billions found in a galaxy. This globular cluster actually orbits our own Milky Way. With any halfway-decent picture, you'll see a cluster of thousands of individual stars. This cluster is one of the brightest in the skies, visible with the naked eye from a suitably dark location. It'll just look like a pale smudge with the naked eye though.
This globular cluster is also known as M13, because it is 13th in Messier's list of deep space objects that are not comets. He was a comet hunter, so he made a list of all the objects he could find that might be mistaken for one.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster NGC 2108.
Original caption: This Picture of the Week shows the colourful globular cluster NGC 2108. The cluster is nestled within the Large Magellanic Cloud, in the constellation of the Swordfish (Dorado). It was discovered in 1835 by the astronomer, mathematician, chemist and inventor John Herschel, son of the famous William Herschel. The most striking feature of this globular cluster is the gleaming ruby-red spot at the centre left of the image. What looks like the cluster’s watchful eye is actually a carbon star. Carbon stars are almost always cool red giants, with atmospheres containing more carbon than oxygen — the opposite to our Sun. Carbon monoxide forms in the outer layer of the star through a combination of these elements, until there is no more oxygen available. Carbon atoms are then free to form a variety of other carbon compounds, such as C2, CH, CN, C3 and SiC2, which scatter blue light within the star, allowing red light to pass through undisturbed. This image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in 2016, using three different filters.
Edited European Southern Observatory image of the globular cluster Omega Centauri. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: This VST image may be the best portrait of the globular star cluster Omega Centauri ever made. Omega Centauri, in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur), is the largest globular cluster in the sky, but the very wide field of view of VST and its powerful camera OmegaCAM can encompass even the faint outer regions of this spectacular object. This view includes about 300 000 stars. The data were processed using the VST-Tube system developed by A. Grado and collaborators at the INAF-Capodimonte Observatory.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster M22. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: This image shows the centre of the globular cluster Messier 22, also known as M22, as observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Globular clusters are spherical collections of densely packed stars, relics of the early years of the Universe, with ages of typically 12 to 13 billion years. This is very old considering that the Universe is only 13.8 billion years old. Messier 22 is one of about 150 globular clusters in the Milky Way and at just 10 000 light-years away it is also one of the closest to Earth. It was discovered in 1665 by Abraham Ihle, making it one of the first globulars ever to be discovered. This is not so surprising as it is one of the brightest globular clusters visible from the northern hemisphere, located in the constellation of Sagittarius, close to the Galactic Bulge — the dense mass of stars at the centre of the Milky Way. The cluster has a diameter of about 70 light-years and, when looking from Earth, appears to take up a patch of sky the size of the full Moon. Despite its relative proximity to us, the light from the stars in the cluster is not as bright as it should be as it is dimmed by dust and gas located between us and the cluster. As they are leftovers from the early Universe, globular clusters are popular study objects for astronomers. M22 in particular has fascinating additional features: six planet-sized objects that are not orbiting a star have been detected in the cluster, it seems to host two black holes, and the cluster is one of only three ever found to host a planetary nebula — a short-lived gaseous shells ejected by massive stars at the ends of their lives.