NASA’s Webb unveils NGC 6440: a globular cluster at the heart of the Milky Way

The James Webb Space Telescope, launched on December 25, 2021, orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Earth, known as the second Lagrange point, or L2. According to NASA, the Webb telescope observes every stage of the history of our universe, from its bright initial glow to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets, as well as the evolution of our own solar system.

NASA said that before Webb, star clusters located in the dense central region of the galaxy were difficult to observe, however, May 2 provided a clear view of NGC 6440.

What is NGC 6440?

NGC 6440 is a globular cluster orbiting within the galactic bulge, approximately 28,000 light-years away. Globular clusters consist primarily of old stars, ranging in number from hundreds of thousands to millions, tightly bound together by gravity. It is in the Sagittarius zodiac sign, Sagittarius. NASA also said that globular clusters like NGC 6440 are collections of nearly spherical, densely packed stars found on the outskirts of galaxies.

In the image released by NASA Webb, it shows “a spherical collection of stars”. The center of the cluster is dominated by a concentrated group of bright white stars, with several larger yellow stars scattered throughout the image. Many stars have visible diffraction spikes and the background is black.”

Meanwhile, in another news, NASA said that Earth received laser transmission from “deep space”. The record-breaking transmission originating from 140 million miles away came from NASA’s 2023 spacecraft “Psyche.” In October last year, the US space agency launched a space mission to send a spacecraft towards the asteroid ‘Psyche 16’. ‘Psyche 16’ is believed to be composed mainly of metal, which is rare in the Solar System. It is said to be located in the asteroid belt between the planets Mars and Jupiter. According to Meera Srinivasan, project operations lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, in a statement, “This represents an important milestone for the project by demonstrating how optical communications with a spacecraft’s radio frequency comms system Can interface.”

Milestone alert!
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Published: 03 May 2024, 10:25 am IST