File:Messier3 - HST - Potw1914a.jpg

File
File history
File usage
Metadata

Original file ‎(4,209 × 3,680 pixels, file size: 8.05 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

This file is from a shared repository and may be used by other projects. Please see the file description page for further information.

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

	Date/Time	Thumbnail	Dimensions	User	Comment
current	06:11, 8 April 2019		4,209 × 3,680 (8.05 MB)	commons>Fabian RRRR	== {{int:filedesc}} == {{Information \|Description='''Blue rejuvenation Globular clusters are inherently beautiful objects, but the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, Messier 3, is commonly acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful of them all. Containing an incredible half a million stars, this eight-billion-year-old cosmic bauble is one of the largest and brightest globular clusters ever discovered. However, what makes Messier 3 extra special is its unusually large p...

File usage

There are no pages that use this file.

Metadata

This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it.

If the file has been modified from its original state, some details may not fully reflect the modified file.

Credit/Provider	ESA/Hubble & NASA, G. Piotto et al.
Source	ESA/Hubble
Short title	Blue rejuvenation
Image title	Globular clusters are inherently beautiful objects, but the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, Messier 3, is commonly acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful of them all.Containing an incredible half a million stars, this eight-billion-year-old cosmic bauble is one of the largest and brightest globular clusters ever discovered. However, what makes Messier 3 extra special is its unusually large population of variable stars — stars that fluctuate in brightness over time. New variable stars continue to be discovered in this sparkling stellar nest to this day, but so far we know of 274, the highest number found in any globular cluster by far. At least 170 of these are of a special variety called RR Lyrae variables, which pulse with a period directly related to their intrinsic brightness. If astronomers know how bright a star truly is based on its mass and classification, and they know how bright it appears to be from our viewpoint here on Earth, they can thus work out its distance from us. For this reason, RR Lyrae stars are known as standard candles — objects of known luminosity whose distance and position can be used to help us understand more about vast celestial distances and the scale of the cosmos.Messier 3 also contains a relatively high number of so-called blue stragglers, which are shown quite clearly in this Hubble image. These are blue main sequence stars that appear to be young because they are bluer and more luminous than other stars in the cluster. As all stars in globular clusters are believed to have formed together and thus be roughly the same age. Only a difference in mass can give these stars a different colour: a red, old star can appear bluer when it acquires more mass, for instance stripping it from a nearby star. The extra mass changes it into a bluer star, which makes us think it is younger than it really is.
Usage terms	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Date and time of data generation	06:00, 8 April 2019
Software used	Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 (Windows)
File change date and time	09:46, 17 December 2018
Date and time of digitizing	19:10, 10 February 2018
Date metadata was last modified	10:46, 17 December 2018
Unique ID of original document	xmp.did:6febd749-7f71-6a48-8ed4-82240125ce85
Keywords	Messier 3
Contact information	http://www.spacetelescope.org Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2 Garching bei München, None, D-85748 Germany
IIM version	4

File:Messier3 - HST - Potw1914a.jpg

File history

File usage

Metadata

Navigation menu

Search