Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Following orbits which loop high above the galactic plane , globular star clusters are probably 12 to 14 billion years old - truly ancient denizens of our Milky Way Galaxy. Their results offer strong evidence for gravitational stripping of stars from clusters which pass through the plane and central regions of the Galaxy. One of about 150 globular clusters known to be members of the Milky Way, NGC 6712 is thought to have crossed through the crowded galactic plane only a few million years ago. NGC 6712 is about 23,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Scutum .
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