An ancient globule

Esahubble_potw1452a_1024

esahubble_potw1452a December 29th, 2014

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Gilles Chapdelaine

This image captures the stunning NGC 6535, a globular cluster 22 000 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens (The Serpent) that measures one light-year across. Globular clusters are tightly bound groups of stars which orbit galaxies. The large mass in the rich stellar centre of the globular cluster pulls the stars inward to form a ball of stars. The word globulus, from which these clusters take their name, is Latin for small sphere. Globular clusters are generally very ancient objects formed around the same time as their host galaxy. To date, no new star formations have been observed within a globular cluster, which explains the abundance of aging yellow stars in this image, most of them containing very few heavy elements. NGC 6535 was first discovered in 1852 by English astronomer John Russell Hind. The cluster would have appeared to Hind as a small, faint smudge through his telescope. Now, over 160 years later, instruments like the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope allow us to capture the cluster close up and marvel at its contents in detail. A version of this image was entered into the Hubble's Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Gilles Chapdelaine. Link: Gilles Chapdelaine's image on Flickr

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1452a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 6535
Subject - Local Universe
Star > Grouping > Cluster > Globular
Esahubble_potw1452a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 18h 3m 50.4s
DEC = 0° 17’ 44.0”
Orientation
North is 94.0° CCW
Field of View
3.3 x 3.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Serpens

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFC3) Optical (NII) 658.0 nm
Orange Hubble (ACS) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (R) 625.0 nm
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Orange
Green
Blue
Esahubble_potw1452a_1280
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ID
potw1452a
Subject Category
C.3.6.4.2  
Subject Name
NGC 6535
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Gilles Chapdelaine
Release Date
2014-12-29T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1452a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, ACS, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Red, Orange, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Infrared, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
NII, I, R, V
Central Wavelength
658, 814, 625, 606
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
270.959997063, -0.2955449966
Reference Dimension
3977.0, 3931.0
Reference Pixel
1988.0, 1965.0
Scale
-1.38916719351e-05, 1.38916719351e-05
Rotation
93.999999999999957
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
potw1452a
Metadata Date
2014-05-23T18:09:53+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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