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  • Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Blue Straggler Stars in Globular Cluster M53

    04/09/2012 7:34:49 PM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 9 replies
    NASA ^ | April 09, 2012 | (see photo credit)
    Explanation: If our Sun were part of M53, the night sky would glow like a jewel box of bright stars. M53, also known as NGC 5024, is one of about 250 globular clusters that survive in our Galaxy. Most of the stars in M53 are older and redder than our Sun, but some enigmatic stars appear to be bluer and younger. These young stars might contradict the hypothesis that all the stars in M53 formed at nearly the same time. These unusual stars are known as blue stragglers and are unusually common in M53. After much debate, blue stragglers are...