                        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.

                               2024 February 8

                        Globular Star Cluster 47 Tuc
        Image Credit & Copyright: Marco Lorenzi, Angus Lau, Tommy Tse

   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, 47 Tuc lies about 13,000 light-years away. It can be spotted
   with the 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: when roses aren't red
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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