Globular Cluster M15 Deep Field
Image Credit & Copyright:
Alvaro Ibanez Perez
Stars, like bees, swarm around the center of bright
globular cluster M15.
The central ball of over 100,000
stars is a relic from the
early years of
our Galaxy,
and continues to orbit the
Milky Way's center.
M15,
one of about 150 globular clusters
remaining, is noted for being easily visible with only
binoculars, having at its center one of the
densest concentrations of stars known,
and containing a high abundance of
variable stars and
pulsars.
The featured image of M15 was taken by combining very long exposures
-- 122 hours in all -- and so brings up
faint wisps of gas and dust in front of the giant ball of stars.
M15
lies about 35,000
light years away toward the
constellation of the Winged Horse
(Pegasus).