Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2020 October 24

                        Globular Star Cluster 47 Tuc
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Jose Mtanous

   Explanation: Globular star cluster 47 Tucanae is a jewel of the
   southern sky. Also known as NGC 104, it roams the halo of our Milky Way
   Galaxy along with some 200 other globular star clusters. The second
   brightest globular cluster (after Omega Centauri) as seen from planet
   Earth, it lies about 13,000 light-years away and can be spotted
   naked-eye close on the sky to the Small Magellanic Cloud in the
   constellation of the Toucan. The dense cluster is made up of hundreds
   of thousands of stars in a volume only about 120 light-years across.
   Red giant stars on the outskirts of the cluster are easy to pick out as
   yellowish stars in this sharp telescopic portrait. Tightly packed
   globular cluster 47 Tuc is also home to a star with the closest known
   orbit around a black hole.

                      Tomorrow's picture: dark-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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