Globular Cluster 47 Tucanae - Hubble Links Stars Ages And Their Orbits
Sunday, July 21, 2013 - 05:40
in Astronomy & Space
The orbital motion of two distinct populations of stars in an ancient globular star cluster, 47 Tucanae, have offered proof they formed at different times and it provides a rare look back into the Milky Way galaxy's early days. The researchers combined recent Hubble observations with eight years' worth of data from the telescope's archive to determine the motions of the stars in 47 Tucanae, located about 16,700 light-years away in the southern constellation Tucana. The analysis enabled researchers, for the first time, to link the movement of stars in the clusters with the stars' ages. The two populations in 47 Tucanae differ in age by less than 100 million years. read more