Stars, beautiful stars

[n2doc]

Blogs / Bad Astronomy

Unlocking the Jewel Box



Need some pretty for today? Then you should feast your eyes on this exquisite picture of the cluster of stars known as the Jewel Box:




Gee, I can’t imagine why’d they name it the Jewel Box! In fact, this is a large cluster of stars located in the southern constellation of Crux, also called the Southern Cross. It’s bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye, in fact (though when I was in the Galapagos last year, Crux didn’t get high enough off the horizon to see the cluster very well).

This image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, shows the multicolored stars dwelling in the cluster. But not for long, I’ll add. Those bluish stars are O and B-type supergiants, massive stars that scream through their nuclear fuel thousands of times faster than the Sun, meaning their lives are far shorter. The red beacon there at the upper right is a red supergiant, a star right on the edge of disaster (literally, since the word means "bad or ill star"). It won’t be long, maybe a few million more years, when all the bright stars in the Jewel Box will go supernova, detonating in titanic explosions each of which, from the Earth, will outshine Venus!

more:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/10/29/unlocking-the-jewel-box/



more at Nasa:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0913.html

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Nice shots ,Imagine something shining brighter than Venus.

[Arctic Dave]

2. A celestial rock concert.

[Sal Minella]

3. Wow! Thanks. n/t

[alittlelark]

4. n2doc - You Rock! Eye candy from space + Terrestrial 'toons!

Thank You !

B-) :toast: :bounce:

[Indenturedebtor]

5. Hrmmm. So many worlds to conquer, so little time...

Damn you Telomeres!!!!!!!! Damn you straight to hell!

Thanks for posting, this is gorgeous :applause:

[byronius]

6. Dude! Great post.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. A few million more years?? But I wanna see it NOW! nt