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Credit & Copyright: Anglo-Australian Telescope
photograph by David Malin
Copyright: Anglo-Australian Telescope Board
Explanation:
The great variety of star colors in this open cluster
underlie it's name: The Jewel Box. The bright central star Kappa
Crucis
is red, in contrast to the many blue stars
that surround it. The cluster contains just over 100 stars, and
might be no older than 10 million years. 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.
Copyright: Anglo-Australian Telescope Board
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Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: NGC 4755
Publications with words: NGC 4755
See also: