[Animated GIF] RR Lyrae Stars in M3

To view the animation, right-click and view the original size (or click that link) image. It's a 5.59 MB file so if you have a meager connection it will take a while. Sorry I couldn't stream it but it is a short loop and Flickr wouldn't let me loop a streaming video format.

 

M3 is a star cluster and RR Lyrae stars are variable stars which vary in brightness over relatively short periods of time. Hopefully they aren't too subtle to see dimming and brightening.

 

I was hoping to create something very similar to the image featured in this APOD with this video.

 

This is a series of images taken over a period of about 12 hours* of the core of M3 by Hubble. The video itself is grayscale F555W data. The coloration of the stars is NOT animated. It's just a color overlay. I think it's possible to generate a totally animated RGB video but I think it would take a very long time and make little difference. It should still be a fairly accurate representation.

 

*Looking at the proposal, Bailyn requested a 24 hour look at this cluster but apparently only got 12. Too bad! :(

 

Video animation: F555W data

Red: hst_06805_03_wfpc2_f814w_pc_sci

Green: hst_06805_03_wfpc2_f555w_pc_sci

Blue: hst_06805_03_wfpc2_f336w_pc_sci

 

North is NOT up. It's 15° clockwise from up.

Done