Astronomers exploring the massive intriguing globular cluster in our Galaxy called NGC 2808 have spotted rare hot UV-bright stars in it.
- These stars whose inner core is almost exposed, making them very hot, exist in the late stages of evolution of a Sun-like star.
- Motivated by the fact that old globular clusters referred to as dinosaurs of the universe present excellent laboratories where astronomers can understand how stars evolve through various phases between their birth and death.
- With spectacular ultraviolet images of the cluster from Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) onboard India’s first multi-wavelength space satellite, AstroSat, they distinguished the hot UV-bright stars from the relatively cooler red giant and main-sequence stars which appear dim in these images. The findings of this study have been accepted for publication in the journal ‘The Astrophysical Journal’.
(Source: PIB)
