The Glittering Stars of Messier 92

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows a glittering bauble named Messier 92 (M92). M92 is one of the brightest globular clusters in the Milky Way, and it is visible to the naked eye under good observing conditions. It is very tightly packed with stars, containing some 330,000 stars in total. As is characteristic of globular clusters, the predominant elements within M92 are hydrogen and helium, with only traces of others. It is actually what is known as an Oosterhoff type II (OoII) globular cluster, meaning that it belongs to a group of metal-poor clusters. (To astronomers, "metals" are all elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.) By exploring the composition of globulars like M92, astronomers can figure out how old these clusters are. As well as being bright, M92 is also old, being one of the oldest star clusters in the Milky Way, with an age almost the same as the age of the universe.