Unexplained Brightening of AKO 9 in 47 Tucanae
This is a reproduction of two images obtained in late 1996 with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) , showing the field of the variable star AKO 9 at the centre of the southern globular cluster 47 Tucanae .
This star brightened by more than 2 magnitudes (a factor of seven) in less than 1 hour. Left: the first frame; right: the last frame in a series of 15 exposures, obtained during a period of just over 4 hours.
Yhe field of each image measures 3.9 arcsec x 3.9 arcsec. North is up and East is to the left.
No other star among the > 30,000 studied was found to have such a large amplitude.
Credit:
ESO
About the Image
| Id: | eso9703a |
| Type: | Collage |
| Release date: | 15 January 1997 |
| Related releases: | eso9703 |
| Size: | 3284 x 1629 px |
About the Object
| Name: | 47 Tucanae, AKO 9 |
| Type: | • Milky Way : Star : Type : Variable • Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular • X - Stars • X - Star Clusters |
| Distance: | 15000 light years |
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
| Ultraviolet U |
300 nm | Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 |
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