Photo credit: science.nasa.gov
In celebration of ESA/Hubble’s 35th anniversary, the European Space Agency (ESA) has unveiled new images showcasing well-known Hubble targets, enhanced with the latest data and advanced processing techniques.
This month, ESA/Hubble revealed updated images of iconic celestial objects such as NGC 346, the Sombrero Galaxy, and the Eagle Nebula. Their latest focus is on the star cluster known as Messier 72 (M72).
M72 is a globular cluster situated approximately 50,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Aquarius. These clusters, characterized by their high density of stars, exhibit a regular spherical formation due to the intense gravitational forces at play. The Milky Way galaxy hosts about 150 recognized globular clusters.
The new images of M72 illustrate a vivid spectrum of star colors, a result of incorporating ultraviolet observations alongside previous visible-light data. This color diversity signifies different star types: the blue stars are those that began as more massive, gradually heating up as they exhaust their hydrogen fuel, while the bright red stars represent lower-mass stars evolving into red giants. Analyzing these varying groups enhances our understanding of the formation processes of globular clusters and the galaxies from which they originated.
The cluster was first discovered by Pierre Méchain, a French astronomer who collaborated with Charles Messier. Méchain located M72 in 1780, marking it as the 72nd entry in Messier’s renowned catalog of astronomical objects. Notably, it stands out as one of the most distant clusters featured in this collection.
Source
science.nasa.gov