Globular Star Cluster NGC 6397 (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Globular Star Cluster NGC 6397

Caption

This ancient stellar jewelry box, a globular cluster called NGC 6397, glitters with the light from hundreds of thousands of stars. The new measurement sets the cluster's distance at 7,800 light-years away, with just a 3 percent margin of error. NGC 6397 is one of the closest globular clusters to Earth.

Credit

NASA, ESA, and T. Brown and S. Casertano (STScI) ; Acknowledgement: NASA, ESA, and J. Anderson (STScI)

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