NGC 4755: A Jewel Box of Stars
Explanation:
The great variety of star colors in this
open cluster underlie its name:
The Jewel Box.
One of the bright central stars is a red supergiant,
in contrast to the many blue stars that surround it.
The
cluster, also known as
Kappa Crucis contains just over 100 stars,
and is about 10 million years old.
Open clusters are younger,
contain few stars, and contain a much higher fraction of
blue stars than do
globular clusters.
This
Jewel Box lies about 7500
light-years away, so the light that we see
today was emitted from the clusters before even the
Great Pyramids in
Egypt were built.
The Jewel Box,
pictured above,
spans about 20 light-years,
and can be seen by with binoculars towards the southern
constellation of
Crux.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
