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CHAMÄLEON + ONJALA OBSERVATORY DeepSky | SITEMAP HOME CHAMÄLEON |
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higher resolution (1800 x 1200 Pixel 2800 x 2100 Pixel) 2er Mosaic |
Object description |
The star Becrux, also called Mimosa, is a variable star of the Beta Cephei class 353 light-years away. Becrux is a spectroscopic binary, but the stars are too close together to separate into single stars in the telescope. The two stars orbit each other with a period of about 5 years, the distance is about 8 astronomical units (distance Sun Earth = 1 AU).
The open star cluster NGC 4755 in the constellation Southern Cross, belongs to the most beautiful star clusters in the sky. The brightest stars of the cluster are blue supergiants, which shine several 10.000 times brighter than our Sun. The "highlight" of the cluster is the single red supergiant, which probably caused Sir John Herschel in 1830 to call the cluster a " box of different colored gems" (Herschel's Jewel Box).
NGC 4755 is about 7000 light-years away. The brighter stars are located in a volume of space 25 light-years in diameter, corresponding to 10 arc-minutes in the sky. With an age of about 10 million years the cluster belongs to the youngest known open clusters. According to Trumpler it is classified as type I 3 r. NGC 4755 was discovered in 1751 by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. We also have a high resolution image of NGC 4755 which we show here.
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NGC 4852 is an open star cluster
and contains about 60 stars. According to Trumpler it is classified as
type II 2 p. It stands at a distance of about 3600
light-years from the solar system and was discovered by James Dunlop on April
30, 1822. « Click here or the thumbnail to load a large annoted image . We also have a mosaic image of this region, consisting of 2 segments. 2 mosaic of NGC 4755 and NGC 4852. Download large images 2er mosaic of NGC 4755 and NGC 4852. Download large images 1800 x 1200 Pixel 2800 x 1800 Pixel |
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