Cosmic riches

Esahubble_potw1240a_1024

esahubble_potw1240a October 1st, 2012

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

This dazzling image shows the globular cluster Messier 69, or M 69 for short, as viewed through the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Globular clusters are dense collections of old stars. In this picture, foreground stars look big and golden when set against the backdrop of the thousands of white, silvery stars that make up M 69. Another aspect of M 69 lends itself to the bejewelled metaphor: As globular clusters go, M 69 is one of the most metal-rich on record. In astronomy, the term metal has a specialised meaning: it refers to any element heavier than the two most common elements in our Universe, hydrogen and helium. The nuclear fusion that powers stars created all of the metallic elements in nature, from the calcium in our bones to the carbon in diamonds. Successive generations of stars have built up the metallic abundances we see today. Because the stars in globular clusters are ancient, their metallic abundances are much lower than more recently formed stars, such as the Sun. Studying the makeup of stars in globular clusters like M 69 has helped astronomers trace back the evolution of the cosmos. M 69 is located 29 700 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius (the Archer). The famed French comet hunter Charles Messier added M 69 to his catalogue in 1780. It is also known as NGC 6637. The image is a combination of exposures taken in visible and near-infrared light by Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys, and covers a field of view of approximately 3.4 by 3.4 arcminutes.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1240a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
M 69
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Grouping > Cluster > Globular
Esahubble_potw1240a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 18h 31m 23.0s
DEC = -32° 20’ 51.6”
Orientation
North is 80.8° CCW
Field of View
3.4 x 3.5 arcminutes
Constellation
Sagittarius

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (B) 435.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Blue
Esahubble_potw1240a_1280
×
ID
potw1240a
Subject Category
B.3.6.4.2  
Subject Name
M 69
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date
2012-10-01T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1240a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue, Blue
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, V, V, B
Central Wavelength
814, 606, 555, 435
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
277.845744109, -32.3476556974
Reference Dimension
4122.0, 4173.0
Reference Pixel
2061.0, 2086.0
Scale
-1.39118217883e-05, 1.39118217883e-05
Rotation
80.759999999999977
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
potw1240a
Metadata Date
2012-10-01T14:41:17+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In