City of stars - 47 Tucanae
In these pictures, a 'city' of a million stars glitters like a New York City skyline. The images capture the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, located 15, 000 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Tucana.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers went hunting in this large city for planetary companions: bloated gaseous planets that snuggle close to their parent stars, completing an orbit in a quick three to five days. To their surprise, they found none. This finding suggests that the cluster's environment is too hostile for breeding planets or that it lacks the necessary elements for making them.
Credit:Ron Gilliland ( Space Telescope Science Institute), David Malin (Anglo-Australian Observatory) and NASA/ESA
About the Image
About the Object
Name: | 47 Tucanae, NGC 104 |
Type: | Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular |
Distance: | 15000 light years |
Category: | Star Clusters |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Ultraviolet U | 336 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |
Optical V | 555 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |
Infrared I | 814 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |
Notes: The left image was taken by the Anglo-Australian Observatory.