This Hubble telescope image shows only a portion of Messier 55.

 

This image captures a small fraction of the stellar cluster M55 in our night sky,Its spherical shape is due to the powerful gravitational forces that bind its many stars together. Can observe and resolve individual stars in M55 in much greater detail than if viewing it from ground-based telescopes.


Charles Messier, a renowned astronomer and great observer, had difficulty in spotting the globular cluster Messier 55 when cataloging nebulae and star clusters. Originally observed in South Africa by a French astronomer in 1752, it took until 1778 for Messier to catalog it. Messier 55 is large and reasonably bright, however, it lacks a dense core and many of its stars are quite faint, making it challenging to observe in unfavorable conditions,This is one of the reasons why Charles Messier had trouble seeing the globular cluster.


French astronomer Charles Messier noted M55, a globular cluster in the Sagittarius constellation, when cataloging celestial objects in 1778. Despite its location far away from Paris, Messier was able to observe the cluster from his observatory. However, due to being lower in the sky for northern observers, M55’s view was hampered by thicker layers of atmosphere, water vapor and light pollution, which limited Messier’s view. When he cataloged it, Messier noted that “its light is even and does not appear to contain any star.”


M55, also known as the Omega Centauri Globular Cluster, is a spherical star cluster that can be seen in the constellation of Sagittarius. Through the use of the Hubble Space Telescope, individual stars can be seen within the cluster and with ground-based telescopes, although fewer stars are visible. The stars in this cluster are held together by their intense gravitational attraction, hence forming a spherical shape. From this image, we can get a glimpse into this star cluster, providing an insight into its beauty and structure.


M55 is a star cluster located in the southern part of the constellation Sagittarius. Seen through binoculars, it will only appear as a round hazy patch. However, using small telescopes can begin to resolve individual stars in M55, while larger aperture telescopes will pick out low magnitude stars easily even in skies with low light pollution.The globular cluster located approximately 20,000 light-years away is an impressive celestial phenomenon with a diameter of approximately 100 light-years. It is an incredibly dense star cluster, estimated to contain around 100,000 stars, of which 55 are variable stars whose luminosity change over time.







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