ESA Science & Technology - Fornax galaxy with four globular clusters marked

This is a Digitized Sky Survey 2 image of the dwarf galaxy Fornax. Highlighted here are four globular clusters found in the galaxy called Fornax 1, 2, 3 and 5.

New observations of the four clusters – large balls of stars that orbit the centres of galaxies – show they are very similar to those found in our galaxy, the Milky Way. The finding is at odds with leading theories on how these clusters form – in these theories, globular clusters should be nestled among large quantities of old stars – and so the mystery of how these objects came to exist deepens.