Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2023 January 30 [2]A ball of stars containing thousands of stars is shown with mostly light colored stars but with some stars having vibrant colors. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Globular Star Cluster NGC 6355 from Hubble Image Credit: [3]ESA/[4]Hubble & [5]NASA, [6]E. Noyola, R. Cohen Explanation: [7]Globular clusters once ruled the [8]Milky Way. Back in the [9]old days, back when our Galaxy first formed, perhaps thousands of globular clusters roamed [10]our Galaxy. Today, there are less than [11]200 left. Over the eons, many [12]globular clusters were destroyed by repeated fateful encounters with each other or the [13]Galactic center. Surviving relics are older than any [14]Earth fossil, older than any [15]other structures in our Galaxy, and [16]limit the universe itself in raw age. There are few, if any, [17]young globular clusters left in our [18]Milky Way Galaxy because [19]conditions are not ripe for more to form. The [20]featured image shows a Hubble Space Telescope view of 13-billion year old [21]NGC 6355, a surviving globular cluster currently passing near the [22]Milky Way's center. Globular cluster stars are [23]concentrated toward the image center and highlighted by bright blue stars. Most other stars in the frame are dimmer, redder, and just coincidently lie near the direction to [24]NGC 6355. Tomorrow's picture: tails tales __________________________________________________________________ [25]< | [26]Archive | [27]Submissions | [28]Index | [29]Search | [30]Calendar | [31]RSS | [32]Education | [33]About APOD | [34]Discuss | [35]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [36]Robert Nemiroff ([37]MTU) & [38]Jerry Bonnell ([39]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [40]Specific rights apply. [41]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [42]ASD at [43]NASA / [44]GSFC, [45]NASA Science Activation & [46]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2301/ngc6355_hubble_3769.jpg 3. https://esa.int/ 4. https://esahubble.org/ 5. https://www.nasa.gov/ 6. https://www.as.utexas.edu/astronomy/people/?u=102 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020416.html 8. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/285/the-milky-way-galaxy/ 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap001029.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/milky_way.html 11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globular_cluster 12. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997ApJ...474..223G/abstract 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090925.html 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070930.html 16. https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_age.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080806.html 18. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/galaxy-location.html 19. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/virgo_cluster.html 20. https://esahubble.org/images/potw2301a/ 21. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6355 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180729.html 23. https://cmg-cmg-tv-10040-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/59uJYA1xkWCYP7fhmbiYheT8rJg=/1440x810/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/RDRI4ZITA5FPTJFPXBQ7L5YBXM.jpg 24. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023arXiv230105227S/abstract 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230129.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 34. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230130 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230131.html 36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 37. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 38. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 39. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 40. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 41. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 42. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 43. https://www.nasa.gov/ 44. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 45. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 46. http://www.mtu.edu/