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Messier 10

Hubble’s ultraviolet image of Messier 10’s dense core reveals its high population of blue stragglers.

Distance

15,000 light-years

Apparent Magnitude

6.4

constellation

Ophiuchus

object type

Globular Cluster

A colorful grouping of red, yellow, orange, blue, and white stars sits at image center. The stars appear close together at image center and appear less dense as you move outward.
This image of Messier 10 was created with ultraviolet light gathered by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. The data is from an observing program that established an archive of globular clusters in ultraviolet light. This ultraviolet light image compliments the visible and infrared light image below, and highlights the energetic, bright, young, blue stars that dot the cluster.
NASA, ESA, G. Piotto (Universita degli Studi di Padova); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, M10 is a bright globular cluster located in the constellation Ophiuchus. It is roughly 15,000 light-years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 6.4. This cluster can be spotted using a pair of binoculars and is most easily observed during July.

M10 is notable for its high population of blue stragglers — stars that appear to be far younger than their neighbors. The stars in globular clusters are thought to have formed and aged together, so they should all be roughly the same age. These anomalous, bluer stars were created either by collisions between stars or other stellar interactions. Such events are easy to imagine in densely populated globular clusters, in which up to a few million stars are tightly packed together.

Hubble view of M10
This Hubble image is made up of observations in visible and infrared light using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.
ESA/Hubble & NASA

For more information about Hubble’s observations of M10, see:

locator star chart for M10
This star chart for M10 represents the view from mid-northern latitudes for the given month and time.
Image courtesy of Stellarium

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