the space telescope hub revealed the image of a tightly packed globular cluster NGC 6325located about 26,000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Ophiuchus.

Globular clusters like NGC 6325 are tight collections of stars with tens of thousands to millions of members. They can be found in galaxies of all kinds and act as natural laboratories for astronomers who study star formation. This is because the constituent stars of globular clusters form at about the same time and with similar initial compositions, meaning astronomers can use them to refine their theories of how stars evolve.

Astronomers investigated this particular cluster not to understand star formation, but to search for a hidden monster. Although it seems peaceful, astronomers suspect it this cluster could contain a medium-mass black hole that subtly affects the movement of the surrounding stars, details PS.

Previous research found that the distribution of stars in some highly concentrated globular clusters, which have stars relatively close together, was somewhat different from what astronomers had expected, NASA reports.

This discrepancy suggests that at least some of these densely packed globular clustersincluding perhaps NGC 6325, all could have a black hole lurking at their center.

To further investigate this hypothesis, the astronomers turned to the Hubble wide-angle camera 3 to look at a larger sample of tightly packed globular clusters, including this star-studded image of NGC 6325. Additional data from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys is also incorporated into this image.