NASA/ESA Hubble explores heart of this sparkling globular cluster in constellation Sagittarius

This latest picture by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features a dazzling globular cluster NGC 6569 in the constellation Sagittarius. The constellation Sagittarius is in the same area of the night sky as the center of the Milky Way, which is filled with light-absorbing gas and dust.

For the unversed, globular clusters are stable, tightly bound clusters containing tens of thousands to millions of stars, and are associated with all types of galaxies. As visible in the heart of this star-studded image, globular clusters have a regular spherical shape with a densely populated centre.

Hubble used two of its powerful instruments to capture this image - the Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) - revealing a glittering hoard of stars in this astronomical treasure trove.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), this observation comes from an investigation of globular clusters which lie close to the centre of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

Astronomers who proposed these observations combined data from Hubble with data from astronomical archives, allowing them to measure the ages of globular clusters including NGC 6569.

Our latest Picture of the Week captures the sparkling globular cluster NGC 6569 in the constellation Sagittarius, revealing a glittering hoard of stars in this astronomical treasure trove.🔗 https://t.co/h8o38z8KtcCredit: @esa / @HUBBLE_space / @NASA , R. Cohen pic.twitter.com/tVbNU4ubGq

— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) June 27, 2022