A blue straggler is a type of star that is more luminous and bluer than expected. Typically identified in a stellar cluster, they have a higher effective temperature than the main sequence turnoff point for the cluster, where ordinary stars begin to evolve towards the red giant branch. Blue stragglers were first discovered by Allan Sandage in 1953 while performing photometry of the stars in the globular cluster M3.[1][2]
- ^ Sandage, Allan (1953). "The color-magnitude diagram for the globular cluster M3". The Astronomical Journal. 58: 61–75. Bibcode:1953AJ.....58...61S. doi:10.1086/106822.
- ^ John Noble Wilford (1991-08-27). "Cannibal Stars Find a Fountain of Youth". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-18.