Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 photo of M80 Globular star cluster
M80, a swarm hundreds of thousands of stars, was imaged here by
the Hubble Space Telescope's WFPC2 camera. Only the brighter
stars, brighter than our sun, are shown here, because of the
cluster's large distance (roughly 28,000 light years).
Especially obvious are the bright red giants, which are stars
similar to the Sun in mass that are nearing the ends of their
lives. Analysis of WFPC2 images of M80 both in the visible and
the UV part of the electromagnetic spectrum has led to the
discovery of an unusually large number of "blue stragglers",
stars which have lost their cooler outer layers in close mutual
encounters. This is in good agreement with the fact that the
core of M80 is one of the densest of all globulars in our Milky
Way Galaxy, but not with the finding of only two nova-like close
binary stars in this cluster. Credit: Hubble Heritage Team
(AURA/ STScI/ NASA) Last Modification: July 2, 1999