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> Old Open cluster NGC 2818 and planetary nebula in Pyxis
Old Open cluster NGC 2818 and planetary nebula in Pyxis
author: Anglo-Australian Observatory/David Malin Images/Novapix
reference: a-nep28-18001
Image Size 300 DPI: 40 * 51 cm
The open cluster NGC 2818 is not very conspicuous because most of the brilliant, massive stars that normally distinguish such groupings have vanished as supernovae, indicating that the cluster is quite mature. The massive stars dominating the scene in young clusters leaving the fainter, long-lived stars behind. Eventually, they too come to the end of their lives, throwing off their outer layers as planetary nebulae. This one, identified as NGC 2818A, is particularly graceful, and its existence suggests that the cluster to which it belongs is unusually old, at least a billion years. Most such clusters have lost their identity after a few hundred million years. The cluster and its planetary nebula are about 10,000 light years distant.
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