47 Tucanae Core: Ground Based vs. Hubble Image
Date: 24 July 1991
Satellite: Hubble Space Telescope
Depicts: 47 Tucanae
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[RIGHT] The core of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, as imaged by the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera (FOC) onboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The FOC resolves several hundred stars where ground- based images only yield a few dozen stars. The image reveals so-called blue straggler stars (encircled) which are exceptionally bright in ultraviolet light. HST's UV sensitivity and high resolution allow it to easily separate the blue stragglers from the red giant stars which dominate the cluster.
Last Update: 1 September 2019