E 3 tagged posts

The Milky Way arcs into a panorama in the southern sky, taken from the Paranal Observatory, Chile. Credit: ESO/H.H. Heyer

When our galaxy was born, ~13B yrs ago, a plethora of clusters containing millions of stars emerged. But over time, they have been disappearing. However, hidden behind younger stars that were formed later, some old and dying star clusters remain, eg E 3. European astronomers have now studied this testimony to the beginnings of our galaxy.

Globular clusters are spherical-shaped or globular stellar groupings which can contain millions of stars. There are about 200 of them in the Milky Way, but few are as intriguing to astronomers as the E 3 cluster. It is 30,000 light years away, in the southern constellation of Chameleon...