Ancient Planet in a Globular Cluster Core (artist's impression)
A rich starry sky fills the view from an ancient gas-giant planet in the core of the globular star cluster M4, as imagined in this artist's concept. The 13-billion-year-old planet orbits a helium white-dwarf star and the millisecond pulsar B1620-26, seen at lower left. The globular cluster is deficient in heavier elements for making planets, so the existence of such a world implies that planet formation may have been quite efficient and common in the early universe.
Credit:
About the Image
NASA press release
NASA caption
NASA caption
| Id: | opo0319a |
| Type: | Artwork |
| Release date: | 10 July 2003, 20:00 |
| Size: | 3000 x 2400 px |
About the Object
| Name: | Messier 4, NGC 6121 |
| Type: | • Milky Way : Planet • Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular |
| Distance: | 5500 light years |
