(ORDO NEWS) — Hubble Space Telescope observes the open star cluster NGC 1858, which is located in the northwestern part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.
The age of NGC 1858 is estimated at about 10 million years.
Open clusters are a type of star clusters with a weak gravitational pull between stars. NGC 1858 is also an emission nebula, a cloud of interstellar gas ionized by ultraviolet waves from nearby stars.
The gas in the nebula emits its own light at visible wavelengths. It can be seen in the image as a faint cloud filling the middle and lower right corner of the image.
The stars in this young cluster are at different stages of their evolution. Within NGC 1858, the researchers found a protostar, indicating that star formation within the cluster is still active or has just stopped.
This also confirms the presence of an emission nebula.
The cluster contains many massive, bright stars that can be seen throughout the center of the image. NGC 1858 is located about 160,000 light-years away in the constellation Dorado.
It is located in a densely populated region of the sky, and the large number of stars around the cluster makes it difficult to study.
To explore these distant stars, scientists rely on the unique resolution and sensitivity of the Hubble Space Telescope in the visible and infrared wavelengths.
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