Stellar Sweet Shop
Looking its best ever is the star cluster NGC 2203, here imaged by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Aside from its dazzling good looks, this cluster of stars contains lots of astronomical treats that have helped astronomers puzzle together the lifetimes of stars.
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. 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, which contains stars that are roughly twice as massive as our Sun, 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.
This is the best resolution obtained of the star cluster to date.
Credit:ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Girardi
About the Image
Id: | potw2030a |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 27 July 2020, 06:00 |
Size: | 3892 x 4035 px |
About the Object
Name: | NGC 2203 |
Type: | Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular |
Constellation: | Mensa |
Category: | Star Clusters Stars |
Image Formats
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 6 4 39.02 |
Position (Dec): | -75° 26' 0.45" |
Field of view: | 2.57 x 2.67 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 152.0° right of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Optical U | 336 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Optical g | 475 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Optical I | 814 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |