*Description*: This NASA Hubble Space Telescope picture resolves, for the first time, one of the smallest stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. Called Gliese 623b or Gl623b, the diminutive star (right of center) is ten times less massive than the Sun and 60,000 times fainter. (If it were as far away as the Sun, it would be only eight times brighter than the full Moon). Located 25 light-years away in the constellation Hercules, Gl623b is the smaller component of a double star system, where the separation between the two members is only twice the distance between Earth and the Sun (approximately 200 million miles). The small star completes one orbit about its larger companion every four years. Gl623b was first detected, indirectly, from astrometric observations that measured the wobble of the primary star due to the gravitational pull of its smaller, unseen companion. However, the star is too dim and too close to its companion star to be seen by ground-based telescopes. Hubble s view is sharp enough to separate the small star from its companion. The new Hubble observations will allow astronomers to measure the intrinsic brightness and mass of Gl623b. This will lead to a better understanding of the formation and evolution of the smallest stars currently known. Red dwarf stars were once thought to be the most abundant stars in the Milky Way, and thus possibly a solution to the mystery of the Galaxy's "dark matter." However, recent Hubble observations show that these low mass stars are surprisingly rare. The image was taken in visible light on June 11, 1994, with the European Space Agency s Faint Object Camera. Technical facts about this news release: About the Object Object Name: Centaurus A (NGC 5128) Position (J2000): Right ascension: 13: 25.5 (hours : minutes) Declination: -43 : 01 (degrees : minutes) Constellation: Centaurus (southern sky) Diameter: 18.2 (arc minutes) Magnitude: 7.0 Distance: 10 million light-years What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. Astronomers have obtained an unprecedented look at the nearest example of galactic cannibalism ? a massive black hole hidden at the center of a nearby giant galaxy that is feeding on a smaller galaxy in a spectacular collision. Such fireworks were common in the early universe, as galaxies formed and evolved, but are rare today. The Hubble telescope offers a stunning unprecedented close-up view of a turbulent firestorm of star birth along a nearly edge-on dust disk girdling Centaurus A, the nearest active galaxy to Earth. The picture at upper left shows the entire galaxy. The blue outline represents Hubble's field of view. The larger, central picture is Hubble's close-up view of the galaxy. Brilliant clusters of young blue stars lie along the edge of the dark dust lane. Outside the rift the sky is filled with the soft hazy glow of the galaxy's much older resident population of red giant and red dwarf stars. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1998/14/text/ ] *News Release Number:*: STScI-1998-14d
