AAO image reference AAT 22. « Previous || Next »
Top left is NE. Image width is about 17 arc min
Image and text © 1980-2002, Anglo-Australian Observatory, photograph by David Malin.
The majority of old stars in our Galaxy, as in most others, are yellowish in colour. This is because the hotter, bright blue stars have relatively short but spectacular lives. We see these old stars in vast numbers as the brightest patches of the Milky Way and a powerful telescope like the AAT is needed to see them as individuals. Superimposed on this distant background is a small cluster of young blue stars, NGC 6520. In the same region and possibly associated with the cluster is a dark cloud, Barnard 86. The cluster and cloud are probably associated and the dust is visible only because it blocks out light from the myriads of stars beyond.
Entry from NGC 2000.0 (R.W. Sinnott, Ed.) © Sky Publishing Corporation, 1988:
NGC 6520 OC 18 03.4 -27 54 s Sgr 6 8. p Cl, pS, Ri, lC, st 9...13Related Images
AAT 28. Wide angle view towards the Galactic centre
AAT 92. Barnard 86 and NGC 6520, wide angle view
UKS 20. Clouds of stars and dust in Sagittarius
For details of photographic exposure, search technical table by AAT reference number.