The term "globular cluster" doesn't invoke visions of beauty all on its own, but the actual objects out in space are some of the most stunning the Hubble Space Telescope has ever laid eyes on.
The European Space Agency described the Messier 3 globular cluster, the subject of a newly released Hubble view, as "one of the most beautiful of them all." It's 8 billion years old and contains half a million stars.
Globular clusters are spherical collections of stars. Messier 3 is a bit unusual, though. It's packed with a whole bunch of variable stars, ones that change in brightness over time. Scientists have spotted 274 of these twinklers in Messier 3.
As long as we're throwing around cool space terms, here's another one: "blue stragglers." These stars are bluer and more luminous than their brethren. They look younger than their neighbors, but they're really more like vampires.
ESA reported in 2009 that blue stragglers may form by siphoning fresh hydrogen from more massive star companions.
"The new fuel supply allows the smaller star to heat up, growing bluer and hotter -- behaving like a star at an earlier stage in its evolution," ESA said. You can spot a bunch of these glowing blue freeloaders in the Messier 3 Hubble image.
Hubble has been on a roll with space clusters. Check out the telescope's view of an "open cluster" called the Wild Duck Cluster. It's a very different look from Messier 3, but also gorgeous in its own right.
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The Hubble Space Telescope has been mankind's eyes into the ever-expanding universe for the last 25 years. The telescope has been responsible for capturing some of the most breathtaking images of the universe ever seen.
Join us as we take a look at the universe's stellar tapestry with some of the iconic images from the earth-orbitting observatory.
Pictured: Butterfly Emerges from Stellar Demise in Planetary Nebula NGC 6302. What resemble the creatures dainty wings are actually roiling cauldrons of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The gas is tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour—fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in 24 minutes!
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