... In this picture, the seemingly familiar teardrop-shaped object just right of center is actually an unusually situated disk of gas and dust. ... Ominously foreshadowing events to come, a dark cloud of obscuring dust stands out against a luminous star field in the Milky Way. ... NGC 6712: Galactic Globular Cluster . ... Following orbits which loop high above the galactic plane, globular star clusters are probably 12 to 14 billion years old - truly ancient denizens of our Milky Way Galaxy. ...