Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2025 December 28
     [2]The ball of colorful stars is shown where the center is so dense
     with stars it is hard to identify individual stars. Please see the
                 explanation for more detailed information.

          NGC 1898: Globular Cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud
                  Image Credit: [3]ESA/[4]Hubble & [5]NASA

   Explanation: Jewels don't shine this bright -- only stars do. And
   almost every spot in this jewel-box of an image from the [6]Hubble
   Space Telescope is a star. Now, some stars are more red than our
   [7]Sun, and some more blue -- but all of them are much farther away.
   Although it takes light about 8 minutes to reach [8]Earth from the Sun,
   NGC 1898 is so far away that it takes light about 160,000 [9]years to
   get here. This [10]huge ball of stars, NGC 1898, is called a
   [11]globular cluster and resides in the [12]central bar of the
   [13]Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) -- a [14]satellite galaxy of our
   [15]Milky Way Galaxy. The [16]featured multi-colored image includes
   light from the [17]infrared to the [18]ultraviolet and was taken to
   help determine if the [19]stars of NGC 1898 all formed at the same time
   or at different times. There are increasing indications that most
   [20]globular clusters formed stars in stages, and that, in particular,
   [21]stars from NGC 1898 formed shortly after [22]ancient encounters
   with the [23]Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and our Milky Way Galaxy.

   Space Telescopes Live: [24]Where are Hubble and Webb looking right now?
                        Tomorrow's picture: boom star
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [36]Robert Nemiroff ([37]MTU) & [38]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([39]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [40]Specific rights apply.
            [41]NASA Web Privacy, [42]Accessibility, [43]Notices;
                A service of: [44]ASD at [45]NASA / [46]GSFC,
                         [47]NASA Science Activation
                           & [48]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2512/NGC1898_Hubble_2913.jpg
   3. http://www.esa.int/
   4. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html
   5. https://www.nasa.gov/
   6. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/overview/about-hubble/
   7. https://science.nasa.gov/sun/
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220206.html
   9. http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html
  10. https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1840a/zoomable/
  11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globular_cluster
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180516.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180428.html
  14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_galaxies_of_the_Milky_Way#List
  15. http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/milkyway.html
  16. https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1840a/
  17. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/07_infraredwaves
  18. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves
  19. https://archive.stsci.edu/proposal_search.php?mission=hst&id=13435
  20. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012A&ARv..20...50G/abstract
  21. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012MNRAS.426.1884C/abstract
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160725.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100903.html
  24. http://spacetelescopelive.org/
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251227.html
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  31. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  34. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=251228
  35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251229.html
  36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  37. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  38. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  39. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  40. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  41. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  42. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  43. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  44. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  45. https://www.nasa.gov/
  46. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  47. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  48. http://www.mtu.edu/