Central regions of 47 Tucanae seen in visible light and in the ultraviolet

These NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images show the central region of 47 Tucanae, seen in visible light (top) and in ultraviolet light (bottom).

NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

NASA, ESA, and H. Richer and J. Heyl (University of British Columbia, Vancouver)

Using the ultraviolet capabilities of Hubble’s sharp-eyed Wide Field Camera 3, the astronomers traced populations of white dwarfs with a range of ages and positions. This made it possible, for the first time, to collect a census of young white dwarf stars beginning their migration from the crowded centre of an ancient star cluster to its less populated outskirts.