NASA's Hubble spots a stellar sparkler for the Fourth of July

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has given America a cosmic gift for its two hundred fiftieth anniversary: a stunning view of one of the Milky Way's oldest star clusters, painted in red, white, and blue light. Buried within this ancient collection are secrets about how massive stars, as they exploded billions of years ago, seeded the early universe with the chemical building blocks that eventually allowed planets and life to form.

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