哈勃拍摄的球状星团NGC 6355
(原标题: Globular Star Cluster NGC 6355 from Hubble)
2023-01-30
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球状星团曾经统治着银河系。回到过去，回到我们的银河系刚形成的时候，也许有成千上万的球状星团在我们的银河系中漫游。如今，只剩下不到200只。在漫长的时间里，许多球状星团因彼此或银河系中心的反复碰撞而毁灭。幸存下来的遗迹比任何地球化石都要古老，比我们银河系中的任何其他结构都要古老，并且限制了宇宙本身的原始年龄。我们的银河系中几乎没有年轻的球状星团，因为形成更多球状星团的条件还不成熟。这张特色图片显示了哈勃太空望远镜对130亿年前的NGC 6355的观察，NGC 6355是一个幸存的球状星团，目前正在银河系中心附近经过。球状星团的恒星集中在图像中心，被明亮的蓝色恒星突出。这个框架中的大多数恒星都更暗、更红，恰好位于NGC 6355的方向附近。
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Globular clusters once ruled the Milky Way. Back in the old days, back when our Galaxy first formed, perhaps thousands of globular clusters roamed our Galaxy. Today, there are less than 200 left. Over the eons, many globular clusters were destroyed by repeated fateful encounters with each other or the Galactic center. Surviving relics are older than any Earth fossil, older than any other structures in our Galaxy, and limit the universe itself in raw age. There are few, if any, young globular clusters left in our Milky Way Galaxy because conditions are not ripe for more to form. The featured image shows a Hubble Space Telescope view of 13-billion year old NGC 6355, a surviving globular cluster currently passing near the Milky Way's center. Globular cluster stars are 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 NGC 6355.