A new Hubble image brings together years of observations of Messier 30, a tightly packed group of stars about 27,500 light-years away. NASA released the image Thursday, combining data from three observing programs.
Clusters like Messier 30 preserve clues to the Milky Way’s early years. Researchers can compare the stars’ colors and movements across observations taken years apart. Those comparisons are possible because Hubble returned to the same field with multiple instruments and filters.
Messier 30 also travels around the galaxy in the opposite direction from the Milky Way’s rotation. NASA says that orbit raises the possibility that the cluster formed elsewhere and was later captured. It’s one clue to the galaxy’s history, and the new image gives researchers and the public a closer view of the stars that carry it.