Gallery of 12 globular cluster

Mosaic of images of 12 globular clusters ranked in order of increasing dynamical age as measured from the observed radial distribution of their blue straggler stars.

From top-left, to bottom-right: omega Centauri, NGC 288, M55, NGC6388, M4, M13, M10, M5, 47 Tucanae, NGC6752, M80, M30.


Credits: F. Ferraro (UniBO)

A4 size (JPG, 300 DPI, 3.2 MB): mosaic_A4.jpg

Poster size (JPG, 300 DPI, 13.9 MB): mosaic_poster.jpg

The dynamical clock in a cartoon

Animated gif showing how the spatial distribution of Blue Straggler Stars in globular clusters changes over time and the region devoid of these objects progressively moves outwards.


Credits: F. Ferraro (UniBO)

Full size: 1.7 MB

Hubble Space Telescope

Image of the Hubble Space Telescope orbting the Earth every 96 minutes since 1990.


Credits: NASA

Full size: 66 KB

MPG/ESO 2.2m

The MPG/ESO 2.2m located at La Silla, a 2400m mountain in the desert of Atacama, Chile.


Full size: 2.5 MB

CFHT

The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope is 3.6m telescope located at an altitude of 4200m, atop the summit of the dormant volcano Mauna Kea, on the island of Hawaii.


Credits: CR J.-C. CuiIlandre (CFHT)

Full size: 803 KB

Subaru

The Subaru Telescope, with a mirror of 8.2m diameter, is located on top of volcano Mauna Kea in the island of Hawaii and it is in operation since 2000.


Credits: Audrey Delsanti

Full size: 803 KB

LBT

The Large Binocular Telescope has two twin mirrors of 8.4m diameter each, with a total collecting area which corresponds to a single circular mirror of 11.8m  diameter. It is located on top of Mt. Graham in Arizona, USA.


Full size: 2.3 MB

Blue Straggler Stars

This illustration shows the two ways that Blue Stragglers in globular clusters form.


Full size: 1.7 MB

Gallery of 9 globular cluster

Mosaic of images of 9 globular clusters ranked in order of increasing dynamical age as measured from the observed radial distribution of their blue straggler stars.

From top-left, to bottom-right: omega Centauri, NGC 288, M55, M4, M13, M10, NGC6752, M80, M30.


Credits: F. Ferraro (UniBO)

A4 size (JPG, 300 DPI, 2.4 MB): mosaic_3x3.jpg

The cluster NGC6388 as observed by Hubble

Image of the dynamically middle-aged globular cluster NGC 6388 as observed by the Hubble space telescope. Thanks to the high spatial resolution capabilities of Hubble, stars are well resolved even in the highly crowded central regions of the cluster. 


Credits: NASA, ESA, F. Ferraro (UniBO)

Small size (JPG, 850 KB): eso6388_HST_852KB.jpg

Medium size (JPG, 16 MB): eso6388_HST_15.8MB.jpg

Large size (TIFF, 52 MB): eso6388_HST_52.5MB.tiff

NGC6388 as observed by the MPG/ESO 2.2m telescope

Image of the globular cluster NGC 6388 as observed by the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope. The wide-field capabilities of this telescope allowed astronomers to observe even the farthest peripheries of the cluster.


Credits: NASA, ESA, ESO, F. Ferraro (UniBO)

Small size (JPG, 442 KB): eso6388_WFI_442KB.jpg

Medium size (JPG, 1.4 MB): eso6388_WFI_1.4MB.jpg

Large size (TIFF, 7 MB): eso6388_WFI_7.1MB.tiff

The globular cluster NGC6388

Combined images of the globular cluster NGC 6388 as observed by the HST (left) and by the MPG/ESO 2.2m telescope (right).


Credits: ESO, F. Ferraro (UniBO)

Small size (JPG, 341 KB): eso6388_HSTWFI_341KB.jpg

Medium size (JPG, 16.8 MB): eso6388_HSTWFI_16.8MB.jpg

Large size (TIFF, 83 MB): eso6388_HSTWFI_83MB.tiff

The dynamical clock in a video

This video shows the movement of blue straggler stars in globular clusters over time. Blue straggler stars are blue, bright stars, with a higher mass than the average for a cluster, and they are expected to sink towards the centre of a star cluster over time. Those closest to the cluster core are the first to migrate inwards, with more distant blue stragglers progressively moving inwards over time.

Credits: ESO/NASA/ESA, L. Calcada,F. Ferraro (UniBO)

Video Podcast (4.9 MB): eso1252a.m4v

Medium MPEG-1 (12 MB): eso1252a.mpeg

Medium Flash (5.6 MB): eso1252a.flv

Broadcast SD (153 MB): eso1252a.mxf

HD Broadcast 720p/50 (219 MB): eso1252a_HD.mxf

Image and Video Gallery