While attention has recently turned to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), this image of NGC 6638 proves that the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) still has its importance.
The globular cluster NGC 66382 is located 0.5 degrees east of Dole, Sagittarius. It is a member of the Milky Way. This splendid globular cluster is composed of tens of thousands to millions of stars, and the stars are tightly affected by gravity. are tightly bound together, while stars in the centers of globular clusters are more concentrated. The Hubble Space Telescope imaged the core of the Sagittarius globular cluster NGC 66382 with its Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), highlighting its high density.
The location of the globular cluster NGC 66382 in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.
Since its launch in 1989, the Hubble Space Telescope has once again revolutionized scientists’ understanding of globular clusters. With the instruments carried by the Hubble Space Telescope, and its clear view above Earth’s atmosphere. The Hubble Space Telescope has helped deconstruct what kinds of stars globular clusters are made of, how stars evolve in them, and the role of gravity in these dense systems.
Globular clusters are present in nearly all galaxies, and they are the largest and heaviest type of clusters, older and denser than open clusters. From the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists found that in globular clusters, the typical distance between their stars is about a light-year, but in the core with the highest concentration of stars, the distance between stars is about a third of light on average Years, even Proxima Centauri is 13 times closer to the sun.
The globular cluster NGC 6638 as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Cohen
There are more than 150 known globular clusters in the Milky Way. Through the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, globular cluster observations will continue to look for more new things that may exist in ancient star clusters.More high-resolution images can be downloaded from the ESA website
Source: Universe Today
This article is reproduced from the website of Taipei Astronomical Science Education Center.