Using the Magellan Clay Telescope, astronomers have performed a spectroscopic study of blue straggler stars in the globular cluster NGC 3201. Results of the new study, published May 21 on the arXiv preprint server, could help us better understand the properties and chemical composition of this cluster.
First identified in the 1950s, the blue straggler stars (BSSs) are unique main-sequence (MS) stars that are brighter, bluer, and appear younger than their coeval counterparts, hence more massive than MS stars. They are positioned to the left and above the main-sequence turnoff (MSTO) in the optical color-magnitude diagram (CMD).
One of the places to look for and investigate the BSS population are globular clusters (GCs)—gravitationally bound groups of stars. Due to their relatively high masses, the blue straggler stars can be used to probe the internal dynamics of GCs.