Astronomers have discovered what they think are the remains of colliding stars in this new photo from the Hubble Space Telescope
Astronomers have discovered what they think are the remains of colliding stars in this new photo from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Stars are packed tight in what's known as a globular cluster. While the nearest neighbor to our Sun is more than 4 light-years away, stars near the center of NGC 6397 are only a few light-weeks apart. Gravitational interactions are common.
Collisions probably occur about one every few million years or so, researchers said.
So how do you find the scene of an accident? Stars in globular clusters are typically ancient, having formed very early in the evolution of the universe. Collisions would cause a terrific merger, theorists say, leaving behind a hot, bright and young-looking star that should stand out. Some do, and they appear blue in the new picture, released today. Astronomers call them blue stragglers.
NGC 6397 sits 8,200 light-years from Earth, within the Milky Way Galaxy. The observations were led by Adrienne Cool of San Francisco State University.
-- Robert
Roy Britt
Credit: NASA
and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)
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