Open Cluster NGC 290: A Stellar Jewel Box
影像提供: ESA & NASA; 誌謝: E. Olszewski (U. Arizona) HST
Explanation:
Jewels don't shine this bright -- only stars do. Like gems in a jewel box, though, the stars of open cluster NGC 290 glitter in a beautiful display of brightness and color. The photogenic cluster, pictured above, was captured recently by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. Open clusters of stars are younger, contain few stars, and contain a much higher fraction of blue stars than do globular clusters of stars. NGC 290 lies about 200,000 light-years distant in a neighboring galaxy called the Small Cloud of Magellan (SMC). The open cluster contains hundreds of stars and spans about 65 light years across. NGC 290 and other open clusters are good laboratories for studying how stars of different masses evolve, since all the open cluster's stars were born at about the same time.
說明:
珠寶沒這明亮，只有恆星會如斯。如同珠寶盒裡的珍寶，疏散星團NGC 290內的恆星，美麗地閃纅著各種不同的光芒和顏色。這個很上鏡頭星團的影像，是最近由哈伯太空望遠鏡所拍攝。疏散星團內的恆星通常較年輕、數量較少、擁有和球狀星團比起來較高比率的藍色恆星。NGC 290位在鄰近的小麥啠倫星系內，離我們約有二十萬光年遠。這個疏散星團有數百顆成員星，跨度大約有65光年。NGC 290及其他疏散星團，是研究不同質量的恆星如何演化的好實驗室，因為疏散星團的恆星大約都是在同一時間誕生的。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
