Sunny Priyan
A bright scattering of ancient stars shines in Hubble's view of Messier 71, nestled in the small constellation Sagitta, 13,000 light-years from Earth.
Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA
M71 is around 27 light-years across. Globular clusters are typically seen in the galactic suburbs, large bright balls of stars found above and below the main body of the galaxy.
Image Credit: Freepik
Tightly bound by gravity, around 150 globular clusters like Messier 71 surround our Milky Way, each holding hundreds of thousands of stars.
Image Credit: Freepik
Since it is not nearly as dense as other globulars, some thought it to be a large "open" star cluster.
Image Credit: Pixabay
This was the dominant view for many years. But in the 1970s, astronomers concluded that it is in fact a relatively sparse globular cluster.
Image Credit: Pixabay
The stars in Messier 71 are quite old, at around 9 to 10 billion years, and consequently are low in elements other than hydrogen and helium.
Image Credit: Pixabay