NASA: Scintillating Images of Galaxies and Globular Clusters

Where do we come from? How did the universe begin? Why is the universe the way it is? How will it end? These are some of the questions our scientific community has been debating for a long time. Here in this photo gallery courtesy 'Space Telescope Science Institute website' are some of the scintillating and breathtaking photographs of Galaxies and Globular Clusturs.

In short, our universe can be seen as a chain, and every part of the universe is a link in the chain. Every planet is a part of a solar system, every solar system a part of a galaxy, every galaxy a part of a cluster, every cluster a part of a super cluster, and every super cluster is a part of our universe. There are an infinite number of links, but one of the most fascinating parts of our universe is galaxies and their motions. Each galaxy has specific motions within itself and in correlation to other galaxies. Even galaxy clusters interact with other galaxy clusters within our universe. Galaxies are what set the entire universe into motion.

A galaxy is a huge collection of a few hundred million to over a trillion stars and other galactic matter bound by gravity. In the early 1800’s through the 1900’s, galaxies were undefined. They were seen as fuzzy patches of light in the sky, classified as nebulae. In 1917 Harlow Shapley suggested that the nebulae were actually distant star systems that were outside of our own star system (Marvel 153-154). Further research and advanced technology confirmed Shapley’s discovery and these galaxies are classified into three different types: Spiral, elliptical, and irregular. Our solar system is located in the Milky Way Galaxy, which is a spiral galaxy. Each type of galaxy has a special type of motion within itself.

From the famous Black Eye galaxy, to the mysterious Hoag's Object, meet our fascinating universe.

Note: These pictures were taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and are provided courtesy of the Space Telescope Science Institute website.