Rainbow Star Cluster Sparkles in Stunning Hubble Photo

by Clara Moskowitz, SPACE.com Assistant Managing Editor

Date: 16 March 2012 Time: 06:01 AM ET

The globular cluster Messier 9 shines in this new photo from the Hubble Space Telescope. CREDIT: NASA & ESA View full size image

Hundreds of thousands of glittering stars shine in a cluster at the center of our galaxy in a new photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope.
The cluster is called Messier 9, and contains hordes of stars swarming in a spherical cloud about 25,000 light-years from Earth. The object is too faint to be seen with the naked eye, and when it was discovered by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1764, the scientist could only resolve it as a faint smudge that he classified as a nebula ("cloud" in Latin).

MORE: http://www.space.com/14930-star-cluster-photo-hubble-telescope.html


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