Swarming Stars | Space Wallpaper

By Space.com Staff
published

Globular Cluster 47 Tucanae space wallpaper
This space wallpaper showcases the ancient globular cluster 47 Tucanae, a dense swarm of up to a million stars. The image at left shows the entire cluster, which measures about 120 light-years across. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey (DSS; STScI/AURA/UKSTU/AAO), H. Richer and J. Heyl (University of British Columbia), and J. Anderson and J. Kalirai (STScI))

This space wallpaper showcases the ancient globular cluster 47 Tucanae, a dense swarm of up to a million stars. The image at left shows the entire cluster, which measures about 120 light-years across. Located in the southern constellation Tucana, the cluster is about 16,700 light-years away. The right image captures close-up views of thousands of cluster stars. The large, bright stars in the image are red giants. These stars have puffed up to several times their normal size because they have exhausted their nuclear fuel and are near the end of their lives. This image was released July 18, 2013.

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Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.