Scientists captured tens of thousands of stars in a single image for the first time

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured in detail for the first time the globular star cluster ESO 591-12 (also known as Palomar 8) - a dense sphere of tens of thousands of stars bound by gravity. The image shows a bright cluster of multicolored stars: blue ones are hot, while red ones are cooler. This was reported by NASA.

Globular clusters typically form during the early stages of galaxy life from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. Since all stars are born from the same cloud, they are almost the same age, making such clusters a valuable source of information about the early history of the Milky Way.

Data on Palomar 8 was collected as part of the Hubble Missing Globular Clusters Survey, which aims to study 34 previously unobserved globular clusters in our galaxy. The results will help determine their age and distance, as well as provide insights into the structure and origin of star clusters in the central and outer parts of the Milky Way.