This image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals an ancient, glimmering ball of stars called NGC 1466. It is a globular cluster — a gathering of stars all held together by gravity — that is slowly moving through space on the outskirts of the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of our closest galactic neighbors.
Blue straggler stars are blue, bright stars, with a higher mass than the average for a cluster, and they are expected to sink towards the center of a star cluster over time. Those closest to the cluster core are the first to migrate inwards, with more distant blue stragglers progressively moving inwards over time.
Credits
ESA and NASA| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | NGC 1466 |
| Object Description | Globular Star Cluster |
| R.A. Position | 03:44:32.99 |
| Dec. Position | 71:40:15.92 |
| Constellation | Hydrus |
| Distance | The star cluster is located 160,000 light-years away from Earth. |
| Dimensions | Image is about 2.66 arcmin across (about 124 light-years) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The HST observations include those from program (A. Sarajedini). |
| Instrument | HST>WFC3/UVIS; HST>ACS/WFC |
| Exposure Dates | February and July 2016 |
| Filters | WFC3/UVIS: F336W and ACS/WFC: F606W, and F814W |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3/UVIS and the ACS/WFC instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample narrow and wide wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F336W Green = F606W Red = F814W |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
