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> The Jewel Box star cluster
The Jewel Box star cluster
author: ESO/Novapix
reference: a-aou47-55004
Image Size 300 DPI: 13 * 13 cm
NGC 4755 (Caldwell 94) is called the Jewel Box, based on John Herschel's comment in the 1830's that it looked like a superb piece of jewelry. There are about 50 stars in this cluster which formed some 16 million years ago. Most of the cluster members are blue giants which in a few million years will exhaust their hydrogen fuel and become red giants on their way to a cataclysmic end as supernovae. One red giant can already be seen at the center of the cluster.
The FORS1 instrument on the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at ESO's Paranal Observatory was used to take this exquisitely sharp close up view of the colourful Jewel Box cluster, NGC 4755. The telescopes huge mirror allowed very short exposure times: just 2.6 seconds through a blue filter, 1.3 seconds through a yellow/green filter and 1.3 seconds through a red filter. The field of view spans about seven arcminutes.
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