Prepare to be dazzled by the glittering, glitzy contents of the globular cluster NGC 6652 in this stunning image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The core of the cluster is bathed in a soft blue light emitted by countless stars, while a few exceptionally bright foreground stars are adorned with mesmerizing crisscrossing diffraction spikes. NGC 6652 resides within our very own Milky Way galaxy, nestled in the constellation Sagittarius, a mere 30,000 light-years away from Earth and a mere 6,500 light-years from the galactic center.
Prepare to be amazed by the wonders of globular clusters, which are tightly bound clusters of stars containing anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of stars. The immense gravitational pull between these closely packed stars is what gives globular clusters their distinctive spherical shape.
This breathtaking image is a result of combining data from two of Hubble’s most powerful cameras: the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3. It also incorporates data from two separate observing programs conducted by different teams of astronomers.
The first team embarked on a mission to survey globular clusters within the Milky Way galaxy, aiming to uncover valuable insights into various aspects such as their ages and the overall gravitational potential of the galaxy. The second team of astronomers utilized Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and a trio of exquisitely sensitive filters to unravel the composition of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen within globular clusters like NGC 6652.
