Vampires and collisions rejuvenate stars
Dec 26th, 2009 by admin
Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have uncovered two distinct kinds of “rejuvenated” stars in the globular cluster Messier 30. A new study shows that both stellar collisions and a process sometimes called vampirism are behind this cosmic “face lift.” The scientists also uncover evidence that both sorts of blue stragglers were produced during a critical dynamical event (known as “core collapse”) that occurred in Messier 30 a few billion years ago.
