Image Gallery

Three colour composite image of NGC 104 generated from the data at 3, 11, 24 micrometres

Three colour composite image of NGC 104 generated from the data at 3, 11, 24 micrometres taken by the Infrared Camera (IRC) onboard AKARI. The image covers a 40 light year square region at the distance of the target. The bright red stars seen in the image are in the later stages of the red-giant evolutionary phase and are losing their mass at rates as much as one millionth of their mass per year. The star newly discovered by the AKARI observation is located in the bottom-left corner (see the red circle). The star seems to be in the early stage of the red-giant phase but is undergoing significant mass loss.

Results: Stars in the later stages of their life cycle as seen by AKARI – Detection of mass-loss from relatively young red-giant stars in the globular cluster NGC 104 –