Stars
Ground-based MACHO-LMC-5 1994
April 14, 2004 · ESA/Hubble · Mensa
Zoom to full resolution See where it is in the 3D sky Original on ESA/Hubble ↗
Ths ground based observation image shows MACHO-LMC-5, a red dwarf star in our Milky Way galaxy. The star was observed because of a backgroundstar, STAR-0516-7029, in its close neighborhood. This giant blue star is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a companion dwarf galaxy of the Milky Way.
From 1993-1994 the red dwarf moved in front of the bright backgroundstar and created this way a microlensing effect; the light of the blue background star was brightened. Because of this effect Hubble was able to determine the mass of a single star (MACHO-LMC-5), which was never possible before.
