Stars within the NGC 2002 cluster glitter in a brand new Hubble Area Telescope picture of deep space.
The cluster lies about 160,000 light-years away from Earth contained in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a galaxy that orbits our personal Milky Way. NASA shared the Hubble Space Telescope picture on Dec. 5.
Within the heart of the cluster sit 5 red supergiants, or stars which have begun fusing helium as a result of their internal hydrogen gas has run out. These stars are heavier and have sunk inwards. Lighter stars have drifted to the outer edges of the cluster.
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NGC 2002 is understood particularly as an “open cluster,” which suggests its 1,100 stars are loosely sure to one another and should diffuse away from the cluster over the subsequent few million years. The relative sparseness of the star cluster permits scientists to look at every particular person star inside. It’s additionally a comparatively younger cluster, aged solely 18 million years.
Due to its youth, NGC 2002 offers a pure laboratory during which scientists can observe the earliest phases of a star’s life. Understanding the delivery, evolution and death of stars is significant to our wider understanding of the universe. Stars are the constructing blocks of the universe, offering locations for planets to kind (and for all times to evolve!). To higher perceive our sun, solar system and galaxy, scientists flip to observing stars all around the universe.
NGC 2002’s dwelling, the LMC, is likely one of the finest locations for scientists to look at stars at a wide range of ages. The LMC is a 7,000-light-year extensive dwarf galaxy that orbits the Milky Way about 163,000 light-years away. It is one of many closest galaxies to us, which permits scientists to look at particular person stars of all ages inside the galaxy.
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