James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post

Star-Studded Cluster (NGC 6440)

? Group huddle ?? Until Webb, it was a challenge to observe star clusters in the dense central area of our Milky Way — which bulges out, full of old stars and dust! Here’s Webb’s view of NGC 6440. Orbiting within the Galactic bulge, 28,000 light years away, NGC 6440 is a globular cluster. Globular clusters are full of older stars (hundreds of thousands to millions of them!) tightly bound together by gravity. Learn more: esawebb.org/images/potm2404a/ [Image description: A spherical collection of stars which fills the whole view. The cluster is dominated by a concentrated group of bright white stars at the center, with several large yellow stars scattered throughout the image. Many of the stars have visible diffraction spikes. The background is black.] Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Freire; Acknowledgement: M. Cadelano and C. Pallanca Image & Description by NASA