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Credit & Copyright: M. Rich, K. Mighell, and J. D. Neill
(Columbia
University), and W. Freedman (Carnegie
Observatories),
NASA
Explanation:
This cluster of stars, known as G1, is the brightest
globular cluster in the whole
Local Group of galaxies.
Also called Mayall II,
it orbits the center of the largest nearby galaxy:
M31.
G1 contains over 300,000 stars and is almost as
old as the entire universe.
In fact, observations of this globular star cluster show
it to be as old as the oldest of the roughly 250 known
globular clusters
in our own Milky Way Galaxy.
Two bright foreground stars appear in
this image of G1
taken with the orbiting
Hubble Space Telescope in July of 1994.
It shows detail in the distant cluster
comparable to ground-based telescopic views of
globular star clusters in our own Galaxy.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: globular cluster
Publications with words: globular cluster
See also: