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Mysterious No More: Astronomers Used The Hubble To Solve The Blue Straggler Problem

Mysterious No More: Astronomers Used The Hubble To Solve The Blue Straggler Problem
By Evan Gough (https://ift.tt/mI34oet)

Astronomers have puzzled over a type of star called Blue Stragglers for decades. They're more luminous and bluer than they should be. This makes them look young for their ages. Astronomers find them in globular clusters, and now they think they know why. This image features NGC 3201 (left), one of the looser clusters in new data, and Messier 70, which is the the densest cluster in the new research. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

How do blue stragglers defy the aging that turns their mates red? Blue stragglers are found in ancient star clusters, where they outshine stars the same age, looking far bluer and younger than their true age. Astrophysicists have tried to understand blue stragglers for decades. New research using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is finally revealing how these ageless stars come to be and why they thrive in quieter cosmic neighbourhoods.



January 23, 2026 at 05:05AM
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