New star-studded Hubble image shows a globular star cluster about 20,000 light-years away.
new Hubble Space Telescope image Messier 55, also known as M55, appears about 20,000 light-years away.
The loosely focused globular star cluster is large and bright, but it lacks a dense core and many of its stars are faint.
They are hard to observe in less than ideal conditions – even when they were first spotted in 1752 by French astronomer Charles Messier.
It took until 1778 for him to classify the M55.
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This image shows only part of M55, and the cluster as a whole appears spherical because the stars’ intense gravity pulls them together. Hubble’s clear view above Earth’s atmosphere resolves the individual stars in this cluster. Ground-based telescopes can also analyze individual stars in M55, but fewer stars are visible. (Credits: NASA, ESA, A. Sarajedini (Florida Atlantic University) and M. Libralato (STScI, ESA, JWST); image processing: Gladys Cooper)
Although only a portion of the globular cluster is visible in the image, the cluster spans about 100 light-years in diameter.
The cluster as a whole appears spherical, because the intense gravity of the stars pulls them together.
While visibility is hampered by a thick layer of atmosphere, water vapor, and light pollution for northern observers, telescope vision resolves individual stars in this cluster.
The smaller image on Earth (lower left) taken by the Digital Sky Survey shows the region of Messier 55 observed by Hubble. (Credits: NASA, ESA, A. Sarajedini (Florida Atlantic University), M. Libralato (STScI, ESA, JWST), Digital Sky Survey; image processing: Gladys Kober)
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Ground-based telescopes can also solve it Single stars in M55but the number of visible stars is less.
While M55 contains an estimated 100,000 stars with 55 variable stars, even in skies with low light pollution and viewed with binoculars, the cluster will appear as a rounded, fuzzy patch.
An astronaut aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis captured this image with the Hubble Space Telescope on May 19, 2009. (NASA)
Small telescopes can begin to resolve individual stars in M55, while… larger aperture telescopes You’ll catch low-magnitude stars easily.”
The star cluster is found in the southern part of the constellation Sagittarius.
