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 near the
Small Magellanic Cloud
in the constellation of
the Toucan.
The dense cluster is made up of several million
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.
Globular cluster 47 Tuc is also home to exotic
x-ray binary star systems.
