A NASA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of the center of globular cluster M15 reveals anew population of about 15 very hot stars isolated at the core. The most likely explanation for their existence is that they are the 'naked cores' of stars that have been stripped of their outer envelope of gas. This could only have happened if stars were so crowded together in the cluster's core they can gravitationally pull material form each other. The image is approximately two light-years across. Most of the blues stars are concentrated within 0.5 light-years. Hubble's discovery of such stars lends new weight to the notion that the evolution of a star can be affected in very crowded stellar conditions. This stellar cannibalism could only take place where stars are so crowded together that chances for close encounters are exceptionally high. The blue stars are interpreted as evidence that the core of the star cluster has contracted to an extremely dense condition called "gravitational collapse." M15 (15th object in the Messier Catalog) is located 30,000 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus, and it is visible to the naked eye as a hazy spot 1/3rd the diameter of the full moon.
Credits
Credit: G. De Marchi (STScI and Univ. of Florence, Italy) and F. Paresce (STScI)/NASA, ESA.| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | M15 |
| R.A. Position | 21h 29m 58.38s |
| Dec. Position | 12° 10' 0.59" |
| 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 |
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| 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. |
