Messier 3 is one of the brightest and most populous globular clusters in the sky, a glittering ball of roughly half a million ancient stars packed into a sphere about 180 light-years across. It is famous for harboring 274 known variable stars — more than any other globular cluster — along with a striking population of "blue straggler" stars that look mysteriously young.

Continue your journey across the cosmos

Deep-sky object

47 Tucanae

Another cosmic wonder

Deep-sky object

Beehive Cluster

Another cosmic wonder

Deep-sky object

Double Cluster

Another cosmic wonder

Deep-sky object

Hercules Globular Cluster

Another cosmic wonder

Deep-sky object

Omega Centauri

Another cosmic wonder

Deep-sky object

Pleiades

Another cosmic wonder