Find A Ball of Stars

Look to the south in July and August to see the teapot asterism of Sagittarius. Below the handle you’ll see a faint smudge of M55 through binoculars. More “faint fuzzies” can be found in the steam of the Milky Way, appearing to rise up from the kettle. Image created with assistance from Stellarium: stellarium.org

The large image shows just the central portion of M55 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Above Earth’s atmosphere, this magnificent view resolves many individual stars in this cluster. How many can you count through binoculars or a backyard telescope? Original Image and Credits: NASA, ESA, A. Sarajedini (Florida Atlantic University), and M. Libralato (STScI, ESA, JWST); Smaller image: Digital Sky Survey; Image Processing: Gladys Kober