As part of the Hubble Space Telescope’s 35th birthday celebration, NASA has released a spectacular new image. It shows the jewel-like globular cluster M72.
The M72 cluster is located 55,000 light-years away from Earth. It is 9.5 billion years old and is home to thousands of stars. Their density is so great that M72 has taken on a regular spherical shape under the influence of gravity.
The striking variety in the color of stars in the Hubble image is due to the fact that it combines observations made not only in the visible but also in the ultraviolet range. Blue objects are stars that initially were more massive and have now reached higher temperatures after burning most of their hydrogen fuel. The bright red objects are lower-mass stars that have now become red giants.
Studying these different groups of stars helps astronomers understand how globular clusters formed. At present, about 150 such objects have been discovered in our galaxy. They are some of the oldest structures in the Milky Way. Thus, the study of globular clusters in space can be compared to the study of fossils on Earth.
We previously reported on another striking image taken by Hubble as part of its birthday celebrations. It photographed a black “pillar“ in the Eagle Nebula.
According to Esahubble
