Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]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.

                               2020 October 24
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                        Globular Star Cluster 47 Tuc
                Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Jose Mtanous

   Explanation: Globular star cluster 47 Tucanae is a jewel of the
   southern sky. Also [5]known as NGC 104, it roams the halo of our Milky
   Way Galaxy along with some 200 other [6]globular star clusters. The
   second brightest globular cluster (after [7]Omega Centauri) as seen
   from planet Earth, it lies about 13,000 light-years away and can be
   spotted naked-eye close on the sky to the [8]Small Magellanic Cloud in
   the constellation of [9]the Toucan. The dense cluster is made up of
   hundreds of thousands [10]of stars in a volume only about 120
   light-years across. [11]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 [12]orbit around a black hole.

                      Tomorrow's picture: dark-weekend
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    Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([27]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply.
              [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC
                           & [33]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2010/ngc104v1Mtanous.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.facebook.com/jmtanous
   5. http://www.messier.seds.org/xtra/ngc/n0104.html
   6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globular_cluster
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200123.html
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100903.html
   9. http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/tuc/
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080906.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081218.html
  12. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/star-discovered-in-closest-known-orbit-around-likely-black-hole.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201023.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=201024
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201025.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  33. http://www.mtu.edu/