ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescpoe (VISTA) located at the Paranal Observeratory in Chile captured this sparkling infrared image of globular cluster NGC 6723, which can be found approximately 28,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. Globular clusters are essentially spherical-shaped groups of stars that are bound together tightly by gravity.
Globular clusters derive their name from the Latin word globulus, meaning small sphere, and so far, astronomers have discovered over 150 globular clusters in the Milky Way, with most of them estimated to be at least 10 billion years old. These clusters host some of the oldest stars in the galaxy and have been observed since the advent of telescopes in the 17th century.
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Globular clusters were key to pinpointing our own location within the Milky Way in the early 20th century. American astronomer Harlow Shapley measured the distances to several globular clusters, and noticed that they were arranged in a roughly spherical distribution, but the Sun was not at its center,” said the ESO.
