Astronomers utilizing the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a striking photo of the open cluster NGC 2203.
This Hubble image shows the open cluster NGC 2203. The image involves optical and close to-infrared observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera three (WFC3). Three filters had been utilized to sample many wavelengths. The colour outcomes from assigning distinct hues to each and every monochromatic image linked with an person filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / L. Girardi
NGC 2203 is an intermediate-age open cluster situated in the southern constellation of Mensa.
Also identified as ESO 34-four and LW 380, it was found by the English astronomer John Herschel on January 23, 1836.
NGC 2203 is a distant outlyer of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that orbits our Milky Way Galaxy about 160,000 light-years away.
The cluster is roughly 31 light-years across, and includes stars that are roughly twice as enormous as our Sun.
“Aside from its dazzling good looks, NGC 2203 contains lots of astronomical treats that have helped astronomers puzzle together the lifetimes of stars,” Hubble astronomers stated.
“A main sequence star, like our Sun, is the term applied to a star during the longest period of its life, when it burns fuel steadily,” they explained.
“Our Sun’s fuel will run out in approximately 6 billion years, and it will then move on to the next stage of its life when it will turn into a red giant.”
“Astronomers studying NGC 2203’s massive strars found that their rotation might be a factor as to why some of the stars stay longer than usual in this main-sequence phase of their life.”
