19
Mar 16

Hubble unveils monster stars

Source: ESA/Hubble Science Release heic1605

heic1605aR136 observed with WFC3
Image credits: NASA, ESA, P Crowther (University of Sheffield)

Astronomers using the unique ultraviolet capabilities of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have identified nine monster stars with masses over 100 times the mass of the Sun in the star cluster R136. This makes it the largest sample of very massive stars identified to date. The results, which will be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, raise many new questions about the formation of massive stars. (learn more)

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23
Jul 14

Lives and Deaths of Sibling Stars

Source: ESO Photo Release eso1422

The star cluster NGC 3293The star cluster NGC 329.
Image credits:ESO/G. Beccari

In this striking new image from ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile young stars huddle together against a backdrop of clouds of glowing gas and lanes of dust. The star cluster, known as NGC 3293, would have been just a cloud of gas and dust itself about ten million years ago, but as stars began to form it became the bright group of stars we see here. Clusters like this are celestial laboratories that allow astronomers to learn more about how stars evolve. (learn more)

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14
Nov 13

Hubble views an old and mysterious cluster

Source: ESA/Hubble

heic1321a
New Hubble image of star cluster Messier 15.
Image credits:ESA and NASA

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the best ever image of the globular cluster Messier 15, a gathering of very old stars that orbits the centre of the Milky Way. This glittering cluster contains over 100 000 stars, and could also hide a rare type of black hole at its centre.(read more)

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13
Nov 13

Young Stars Paint Spectacular Stellar Landscape

Source: ESO Photo Release eso1347

eso1347a
The star cluster NGC 3572 and its dramatic surroundings.
Image credits: ESO/G. Beccari.

 

Astronomers at ESO have captured the best image so far of the curious clouds around the star cluster NGC 3572. This new image shows how these clouds of gas and dust have been sculpted into whimsical bubbles, arcs and the odd features known as elephant trunks by the stellar winds flowing from this gathering of hot young stars. The brightest of these cluster stars are much heavier than the Sun and will end their short lives as supernova explosions. (read more)

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9
May 13

Hubble finds dead stars "polluted" with planetary debris

Source:ESA/Hubble Science Release heic1309

heic1309a

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has found signs of Earth-like planets in an unlikely place: the atmospheres of a pair of burnt-out stars in a nearby star cluster. The white dwarf stars are being polluted by debris from asteroid-like objects falling onto them. This discovery suggests that rocky planet assembly is common in clusters, say researchers. (read more)

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28
Apr 12

A Cluster Within a Cluster

Source: ESO Photo Release eso1218


The star cluster NGC 6604 and its surroundings.
Image credits: ESO

The star cluster NGC 6604 is shown in this new image taken by the Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. It is often overlooked in favour of its more prominent neighbour, the Eagle Nebula (also known as Messier 16), that lies a mere wingspan away. But the framing of this picture, which places the star cluster in a landscape of surrounding gas and dust clouds, shows what a beautiful object NGC 6604 is in its own right. (read more)

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18
Mar 12

Glittering Jewels of Messier 9

Source: ESA/Hubble Photo Release heic1205


Globular cluster Messier 9.
Image credits: ESA/NASA/HST.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced the most detailed image so far of Messier 9, a globular star cluster located close to the centre of the galaxy. This ball of stars is too faint to see with the naked eye, yet Hubble can see over 250 000 individual stars shining in it.(read more)

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4
Aug 11

VISTA Finds 96 Star Clusters Hidden Behind Dust

Source: ESO Science Release eso1128


VISTA Finds Star Clusters Galore.
Image credits: ESO/J. Borissova.

Using data from the VISTA infrared survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, an international team of astronomers has discovered 96 new open star clusters hidden by the dust in the Milky Way. These tiny and faint objects were invisible to previous surveys, but they could not escape the sensitive infrared detectors of the world’s largest survey telescope, which can peer through the dust. This is the first time so many faint and small clusters have been found at once. (read more)

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