Astronomy: 47 Tucanae

Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

47 Tucanae 47 Tucanae or 47 Tuc (also designated as NGC 104 and Caldwell 106) is a globular cluster located in the constellation Tucana. It is about 4.45 ± 0.01 kpc (14,500 ± 32.6 ly) from Earth, and 120 light years in diameter.

Commentary

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)

Commentary

Source: Internal

Why 47 Tucanae matters: Galaxies are the fundamental building blocks of the visible universe. Studying them reveals how matter organized itself a fter the Big Bang and continues to evolve billions of years later. It appears about 44 arcminutes across including its far outreaches. Due to its far southern location, 18° from the south celestial pole, it was not catalogued by European astronomers until the 1750s, when the cluster was first identified by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille from South Africa. 47 Tucanae is the second brightest globular cluster after Omega Centauri, and telescopically reveals about ten thousand stars, many appearing within a small dense central core. The cluster may contain an intermediate-mass black hole.

Commentary

Source: Internal

Deep dive: 47 Tucanae Due to its far southern location, 18° from the south celestial pole, it was not catalo gued by European astronomers until the 1750s, when the cluster was first identified by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille from South Africa. 47 Tucanae is the second brightest globular cluster after Omega Centauri, and telescopically reveals about ten thousand stars, many appearing within a small dense central core. The cluster may contain an intermediate-mass black hole. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47_Tucanae (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)