Hubble Reveals Colorful View of Messier 3
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new image of the globular cluster Messier 3 (M3). The photograph displays over 500,000 individual stars glowing in shades of red, white and blue.
Messier 3 lies in the halo of the Milky Way and is one of the most densely packed star clusters in our galaxy. Each point of light corresponds to a star whose colour reflects its surface temperature.
Red hues indicate cooler, older stars, while blue tones point to hotter, younger stars. White stars occupy the intermediate temperature range.
These colour differences allow astronomers to study the cluster’s composition and age. Hubble’s high resolution makes it possible to distinguish individual stars even in the crowded core of M3.
The image highlights Hubble’s power to examine tightly packed stellar populations and provides valuable data for ongoing research into the evolution of globular clusters.