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Galactic Pioneers
Featured on March 22, 2019
Star cluster HP 1 contains some of the oldest stars in the galaxy. The cluster, which is in the "bulge" at the center of the Milky Way, appears to be about 12.8 billion years old, which means its stars were born just one billion years after the Big Bang. This is the sharpest view of the cluster to date, snapped at the Gemini Observatory. Astronomers study these stars to learn about the chemical evolution of the galaxy. [Gemini Observatory/AURA/NSF]
