47 Tucanae in X-Rays

47 Tucanae: A globular cluster located about 15,000 light years from Earth.

New results from Chandra and other X-ray telescopes have provided one of the most reliable determinations yet of the relation between the radius of a neutron star and its mass. Neutron stars, the ultra-dense cores left behind after massive stars collapse, contain the densest matter known in the Universe outside of a black hole. This image contains data from a long Chandra observation of 47Tucanae, a globular cluster where one of the eight neutron stars in the study is found. Lower-energy X-rays are red, those with intermediate energies are green, and the highest-energy X-rays are shown in blue.

Scale: Image is 2.3 arcmin across. (about 10 light years)

Image credit: NASA/CXC/Michigan State/A.Steiner et al

Note: For more information, see 47 Tucanae: Probing Extreme Matter Through Observations of Neutron Stars.

47 Tucanae

This bright cluster of stars is 47 Tucanae (NGC 104), shown here in an image taken by ESO’s VISTA (Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy) from the Paranal Observatory in Chile. This cluster is located around 15,000 light-years away from us and contains millions of stars, some of which are unusual and exotic. This image was taken as part of the VISTA Magellanic Cloud survey, a project that is scanning the region of the Magellanic Clouds, two small galaxies that are very close to our Milky Way.

Credit: ESO/M.-R. Cioni/VISTA Magellanic Cloud Survey. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit.

Note: For more information, see A Jumble of Exotic Stars.

NGC 104

A color-corrected image of the the second largest and second brightest globular cluster, or tight grouping of stars, seen in Earth's night sky. Called NGC 104 or 47 Tucanae, the light for this image was gathered in 1986 by ESO's 1-m Schmidt Telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile. The telescope is now decommissioned.

Photo credit: ESO