APOD: 2023 January 30 – Globular Star Cluster NGC 6355 from Hubble

Good morning, Rallypoint, and welcome to the January 30th edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD): "Globular Star Cluster NGC 6355 from Hubble." Yes, Hubble. You didn't think the Webb telescope was the only one in operation (or that the Webb scientists got to have all the fun), did you? We stay in the constellation Ophiuchus today with this look at globular cluster NGC 6355, lying about 31,000 light years away towards our galactic center.

Researchers believe that globular clusters date back to the earliest days of the Universe. They are stable, tightly bound clusters of tens of thousands to millions of stars, and their mutual gravitational force give them their spherical shape. William Herschel discovered NGC 6355 on May 24, 1784.

Hubble captured this composite image earlier this month (January 2023), and today marks its debut APOD appearance. Here are some notes from the press release:

"With its vantage point above the distortions of the atmosphere, Hubble has revolutionised the study of globular clusters. It is almost impossible to distinguish the stars in globular clusters from one another with ground-based telescopes, but astronomers have been able to use Hubble to study the constituent stars of globular clusters in detail. This Hubble image of NGC 6355 contains data from both the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3."