Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Hubble Space Telescope Collection
Title:
Hubble Yields Direct Proof of Stellar Sorting in a Globular Cluster
Object Name:
NGC 104
Object Name:
47 Tucanae
Acknowledgement:
*Ground-Based Image Credit:* Very Large Telescope/European Southern Observatory, R. Kotak and H. Boffin (ESO)
Acknowledgement:
*Hubble Image Credit:* NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/], ESA [ http://www.spacetel…] and G. Meylan (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne)
Fast Facts:
Technical facts about this news release:

About the Object Object Name: 47 Tucanae, NGC 104 Object Description: Globular Cluster Position (J2000): R.A. 00h 24m 05s.67
Dec. -72° 04' 52".6 Constellation: Tucana Distance: This obejct is roughly 15,000 light-years (4,600 parsecs) away. Dimensions: This image is 1 arcminute (4.6 light-years or 1.4 parsecs) wide. About the Data Data Description:

This image was created from HST data from the following proposals:

5912, 6467, and 7503: G. Meylan (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne), D. Minniti (Universidad Catolica de Chile), S. Phinney (California Institute of Technology), C. Pryor (Rutgers University), B. Sams (Mediateam, Germany), and C. Tinney (Anglo-Australian Observatory)

8267: R. Gilliland (STScI), D. Naef (Observatoire de Geneve), A. Sarajedini (University of Florida), S. Sigurdsson (Pennsylvania State University), D. VandenBerg (University of Victoria), T. Brown (University Corporation For Atmospheric Research), A. Burrows (University of Arizona), W. Cochran (University of Texas, Austin), P. Edmonds (Harvard University), S. Frandsen (Aarhus University), S. Vogt, P. GuhaThakurta, and D. Lin (University of California, Santa Cruz), G. Marcy (University of California, Berkeley), M. Mayor (Observatoire de Geneve), and E. Milone (University of Calgary)

9019: R. Bohlin (STScI), G. De Marchi (ESA/STScI), and R. Gilliland (STScI)

9266: R. Gilliland, K. Sahu, and P. Goudfrooij (STScI)

9028: G. Meurer and H. Tran (Johns Hopkins University)

9443: I. King (University of Washington) and J. Anderson (Rice University)

The international team was made of the following scientists: D.E. McLaughlin (University of Leicester), J. Anderson (Rice University), G. Meylan (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne), K. Gebhardt (University of Texas, Austin), C. Pryor (Rutgers University), D. Minniti (Pontifica Universidad Catolica), and S. Phinney (Caltech).

Instrument: WFPC2, ACS/WFC, and ACS/HRC Exposure Date(s): October 1995, Noviber 1997, July 1999, October 1999, July 2001, April 2002, July 2002 Filters: F300W ("Wide U"), F336W ("U"), F475W (SDSS "g")
[For image: F475W (SDSS "g"), F555W ("V"), and F814W ("I")] About the Image Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Meylan (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) Release Date: October 24, 2006 Colors

This image is a composite of many separate exposures made by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope using three different filters to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are:

F475W blue
F555W green
F814W red

Orientation: Hubble Space Telescope (ACS) Image of 47 Tucanae [ http://imgsrc.hubbl…]
note:
*Image Type:*: Astronomical/Illustr ation
note:
*Release Date*:October 24, 2006 10:00 AM (EDT)
note:
*Title*:Hubble Yields Direct Proof of Stellar Sorting in a Globular Cluster
note:
*News Release Number:*: STScI-2006-33a
note:
*Description*:

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided astronomers with the best observational evidence to date that globular clusters sort out stars according to their mass, governed by a gravitational billiard ball game between stars. Heavier stars slow down and sink to the cluster's core, while lighter stars pick up speed and move across the cluster to its periphery.

[Left] - A photo of the globular star cluster 47 Tucanae taken with the Very Large Telescope in Chile. It is one of the densest globular clusters in the Southern Hemisphere. The cluster contains 1 million stars.

[Right] - A NASA Hubble Space Telescope color photo of the core of 47 Tucanae. Multiple photos of this region allowed astronomers to track the "behive swarm" motion of stars. Precise velocities were obtained for nearly 15,000 stars in this cluster. This image was taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys.

The international science team was made of the following scientists: D.E. McLaughlin (University of Leicester), J. Anderson (Rice University), G. Meylan (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne), K. Gebhardt (University of Texas at Austin), C. Pryor (Rutgers University), D. Minniti (Pontifica Universidad Catolica), and S. Phinney (Caltech).
facet_what:
Advanced Camera for Surveys
facet_what:
ESO
facet_what:
COMPASS
facet_what:
Tucana
facet_what:
Very Large Telescope
facet_what:
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what:
Cluster
facet_where:
Chile
facet_where:
Texas
facet_where:
Washington
facet_where:
California
facet_where:
Victoria
facet_where:
Arizona
facet_where:
Pennsylvania
facet_where:
Santa Cruz
facet_where:
Germany
facet_where:
Austin
facet_where:
Florida
facet_where:
Washington, D.C.
facet_when:
July 1999
facet_when:
July 2001
facet_when:
October 1999
facet_when:
July 2002
facet_when:
April 2002
facet_when:
October 1995
facet_when:
October 24, 2006
facet_when_year:
2002
facet_when_year:
1999
facet_when_year:
1995
facet_when_year:
2006
facet_when_year:
2001
UID:
SPD-HUBBLE-STScI-200 6-33a
original url:
Release Date:
October 24, 2006 10:00 AM (EDT)

Hubble Yields Direct Proof of Stellar Sorting in a Globular Cluster