Globular Cluster Omega Centauri
Does an old, red
globular cluster
have any hot, blue stars?
The rightmost picture, taken by the
Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
in ultraviolet light, shows that indeed it does.
Pictured,
Omega Centauri is the largest known
globular
cluster of over 200 in our Galaxy,
containing well over a million stars.
Many of these stars are evident in the visible light
photograph on the left.
When photographed in
ultraviolet light, however,
different and less numerous stars emerge, as evident
on the photograph on the right.
Most of these stars are thought to have evolved
past the current stage of our
Sun.
These stars no longer
fuse
hydrogen to
helium in their core but rather fuse helium into
carbon.
These stars will soon shed their outer envelopes and end up as
smoldering carbon embers known as
white dwarf stars.