The glittering globular cluster Terzan 12 — a vast, tightly bound collection of stars — fills the frame of this image from the Hubble Space Telescope. This star-studded stellar census comes from a string of observations that aim to systematically explore globular clusters located towards the center of our galaxy, such as this one in the constellation Sagittarius. The locations of these globular clusters — deep in the Milky Way galaxy — mean that they are shrouded in gas and dust, which can block or alter the wavelengths of starlight emanating from the clusters.
Here, astronomers were able to sidestep the effect of gas and dust by comparing the new observations made with the razor-sharp vision of Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide-Field Camera 3 with pre-existing images. Their observations should shed light on the relation between age and composition in the Milky Way’s innermost globular clusters.
Credit: NASA, ESA, ESA/Hubble, Roger Cohen (RU)
For more information, visit:
science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-sees-a-glittering...
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