Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Richer and J. Heyl (University of British Columbia), and J. Anderson and J. Kalirai (STScI)

This new Hubble image captures close-up views of thousands of cluster stars within globular cluster 47 Tucanae. The large bright stars in the image are red giants. These stars have puffed up to several times their normal size because they have exhausted their nuclear fuel and are near the end of their lives. The image was taken by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Astronomers used these Hubble observations along with archival Hubble data of 47 Tucanae to accurately measure the changes in positions of more than 30 000 cluster stars. Based on those measurements, the astronomers pieced together the stars' histories, finding two populations of stars that have different chemical compositions and different motions. This image was taken between January and October 2010. Links: NASA Press release Hubble finds evidence of multiple stellar populations in globular cluster 47 Tucanae Evolution of 47 Tuc stellar populations

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo1325b/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License