Subaru Gallery

Palomar 3 might look like a dwarf galaxy, but it is actually a globular cluster located within the Milky Way Galaxy. This cluster is situated about 320,000 light-years away from Earth, making it one of the most distant globular clusters. Globular clusters are made up of old stars, and Palomar 3 is approximately 10 billion years old. Despite its old age, there are some blue stars mixed in, which gives the cluster its colorful appearance. Stars with varying masses that were born at the same time in the early Universe exhibit different colors due to different evolutionary stages.
(Credit: NAOJ; Image provided by Masayuki Tanaka)


【Distance from Earth】320,000 light-years
【Instrument】 Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC)