Indian telescope AstroSat spots rare hot ultraviolet bright stars

 NGC 2808 that is said to have at least five generations of stars have spotted rare hot UV-bright stars in it. , the Department of Science and Technology said on Thursday. 

These stars whose inner core is almost exposed, making them very hot, exist in the late stages of the evolution of a Sun-like star. It is not clear how these stars end their lives as not many of them are detected in these fast-evolving phases, making their study crucial.

With AstroSat, astronomers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics distinguished the hot UVbright stars from the relatively cooler red giant and main-sequence stars which appear dim in these images. Space telescope and the Gaia telescope along with ground-based optical observations were also used.

The findings of this study have been accepted for publication in the journal 'The Astrophysical Journal'.