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Credit & Copyright: Thomas V. Davis
(tvdavisastropix.com)
Explanation:
Stars come in bunches.
Of the over 200
globular star clusters that orbit the
center of our Milky Way Galaxy,
47 Tucanae is the second brightest globular cluster
(behind Omega Centauri).
Light takes about 13,000 years to reach us from
47 Tuc
which can be seen on the sky near the
Small Magellanic Cloud
in the southern constellation of
Tucana.
Also known as NGC 104, the dense cluster is made up
of several million stars in a volume only about 120 light-years across.
Its population of
red giant stars
are particularly easy to see
in this picture.
The globular cluster is also home to exotic
x-ray binary star systems.
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Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: globular cluster - 47 Tuc
Publications with words: globular cluster - 47 Tuc
See also: