{
  "id": 4395826,
  "title": "Something doesn't add up in the Chandelier Cluster, Hubble telescope finds — Space photo of the week",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/30/something-doesnt-add-up-in-the-chandelier-cluster-hubble-telescope",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-30T10:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Live Science",
    "slug": "live-science",
    "url": "https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/something-doesnt-add-up-in-the-chandelier-cluster-hubble-telescope-finds-space-photo-of-the-week"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "NGC 6723, also known as the Chandelier Cluster, is a captivating globular cluster located 27,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. This ancient inhabitant of the Milky Way galaxy, comprised of tens of thousands, potentially millions of tightly bound stars, was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2013.\n\nGlobular clusters like NGC 6723 are among the oldest structures in our galaxy, with stars that are often older than 10 billion years, some even dating back to almost the beginning of the universe itself. What initially puzzled astronomers was the age of the stars within these clusters. It was once believed that all stars in a globular cluster formed simultaneously, from the same material, during a single burst of star formation. However, Hubble's observations revealed a surprising complexity.\n\nThe Chandelier Cluster is densely packed at its center, where bright blue stars are concentrated, while orange stars dominate towards the edges. Blue stars are younger than orange stars, indicating that globular clusters can have intricate histories, with various populations of stars and subtle chemical differences among them.\n\nHubble's study in 2013 and 2014 revealed two distinct epochs of star formation within the cluster, separated by approximately 634 million years. This suggests that globular clusters may have complex histories, potentially formed when massive gas clouds collapsed rapidly in the early universe or as surviving cores of ancient dwarf galaxies stripped of their outer stars by larger galaxies. Regardless of their origin, globular clusters are a testament to the evolution of galaxies, serving as fossils that hint at the intricate processes that shape the cosmos.",
  "summary": "A dazzling new Hubble image of NGC 6723 poses one of astronomy's biggest questions: How did the Milky Way's oldest star clusters form?",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}