NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has worked its wonders once again after capturing a glittering new image of a densely packed region of stars found within the constellation Sagittarius.
(Photo : ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Cohen)
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured the globular cluster known as NG 65558, which is found 23,000 light years away from Earth, in the constellation of Sagittarius.
A Million Blindingly Bright Stars
The image features the grouping of a million blindingly bright stars trying to outshine one another. This grouping of stars is a globular cluster known as NGC 6558, which is found 23,000 light-years away from Earth.
With its distance, the cluster lives closely within the center of the Milky Way galaxy compared to our planet, according to the European Space Agency's (ESA) statement.
ESA officials noted in the statement that globular clusters such as NGC 6558 are "tightly bound collections of tens of thousands to millions of stars", which can be located in a "wide range of galaxies."
The photo is striking with a plethora of stars in a rich variety of hues, according to the space agency, some of the brightest stars of this globular cluster have prominent diffraction spikes surrounding them, which serve as imaging artifacts generated by the starlight's interaction with the inner workings of the space telescope.
Hence, the starburst effect maximizes its glorious display with the help of telescope's mirrors, causing the lights to bend.
It is also worth noting that the starburst effect usually occurs when a lens is directed at a bright source of light, which can also happen when you look at the sun, streetlights, and many more. Indeed, the NGC 6558 in its starburst effect looks even more dazzling thanks to the Hubble telescope!
Read Also: NASA's Hubble Telescope Gains New Milestone In Solving Mystery of Universe's Expansion Rate
"Stellar Clusters, Unique Insights"
According to ESA, globular clusters help astronomers with "interesting natural laboratories" where they can test their theories since all the stars in clusters are formed at "approximately the same time with similar initial composition."
"These stellar clusters therefore provide unique insights into how different stars evolve under similar conditions," ESA officials said.
Furthermore, the image is a result of a set of observations that were conducted to study globular clusters in the inner Milky Way. Astronomers were highly interested in gaining knowledge on how these clusters form and evolve inside the galaxy.
The new stunning image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys, which was designed to study wide areas of space at visible and red wavelengths.
The Hubble Telescope was made possible through an international collaboration between ESA and NASA.
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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
