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Terzan 12 Context Image

At the top of this mosaic image is a diagonal section of our Milky Way as seen in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. Pitch-black filaments of interstellar dust are etched across a whitish background of myriad stars. A smaller portion of the Milky Way is at lower left. It is filled with stars and also a mottled pattern of black clouds of dust. The embedded globular star cluster Terzan 12 is in the middle of the box at image center. At image right is a Hubble Space Telescope photo of the dense star-filled globular cluster. Intervening dust scatters starlight to create multiple reddish hues. The brightest red stars in the photo are bloated, aging giants, many times larger than our Sun. They lie between Earth and the cluster. The very brightest hot, blue stars are also along the line of sight and not inside the cluster, which only contains aging stars. The cluster is about 15,000 light-years from Earth.

This composite image shows the location of the globular star cluster Terzan 12 as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.

[Top Frame]—A view of a section of our Milky Way in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. Dense clouds of dust are etched across a whitish background of stars. The object at upper right is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. 

[Bottom-left Frame]—Photo of a small portion of the Milky Way which is only one-degree across — twice the angular diameter of the full Moon. The globular cluster is in the middle of the box at image center.

[Bottom-right Frame]—A Hubble Space Telescope image of the dense globular star cluster Terzan 12. Intervening dust scatters starlight to create multiple reddish hues. The brightest red stars in the photo are bloated, aging giants, many times larger than our Sun. They lie between Earth and the cluster. Only a few may actually be members of the cluster. The very brightest hot, blue stars are also along the line of sight and not inside the cluster, which only contains aging stars. The cluster is about 15,000 light-years from Earth.

 

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    18:12:15.80
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -22:44:31.00
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Sagittarius
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    15,000 light-years
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Terzan 12
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Globular cluster
  • Release Date
    September 7, 2023
  • Science Release
    Hubble Sees a Glittering Globular Cluster Embedded Inside Our Milky Way
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, DSS, ESA/Hubble, Stéphane Guisard (ESO), Roger Cohen (Rutgers University), Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Downloads

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Image titled "Terzan 12 HST ACS & WFC3" with compass arrows, and color key. The image shows a compact beehive-like structure of hundreds of thousands of stars crowded together. Because of scattering by interstellar dust, stars on the left side of the image appear redder. Stars toward the right side of the image are bluish-white. The image is sprinkled with bright blue foreground stars. There's also a smattering of bright red giant stars across the image. At left, near the top of the image is a color key showing the ACS/WFC and WFC3 UVIS/IR instrument filters used to create the image. The assigned colors are blue: F606W; green: F110W; and red: F160W. At lower right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 10 o'clock; the north arrow points towards 2 o'clock.

Terzan 12 Compass Image

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Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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