A Hubble gem: the Jewel Box

This image is a “close-up” view from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 4755, or the Jewel Box cluster. Several very bright, pale blue supergiant stars, a solitary ruby-red supergiant and a variety of other brilliantly coloured stars are visible in the image, as well as many much fainter ones, often with intriguing colours. The huge variety in brightness exists because the brighter stars are 15 to 20 times the mass of the Sun, while the dim points are less than half the mass of the Sun. This is the first image of an open galactic cluster with imaging extending from the far ultraviolet to the near-infrared.

Credit:

NASA/ESA and Jesús Maíz Apellániz (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain)

About the Image

Id:eso0940c
Type:Observation
Release date:29 October 2009
Related releases:eso0940
Size:3016 x 1487 px

About the Object

Name:NGC 4755
Type:Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster
Distance:6500 light years
Constellation:Crux
Category:Star Clusters

Image Formats

Large JPEG
626.9 KB
Screensize JPEG
91.3 KB

Wallpapers

1024x768
136.3 KB
1280x1024
198.6 KB
1600x1200
283.0 KB
1920x1200
340.8 KB
2048x1536
416.7 KB

Coordinates

Position (RA):12 53 42.12
Position (Dec):-60° 22' 1.21"
Field of view:2.51 x 1.24 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 35.3° right of vertical

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Ultraviolet
Far-UV
170 nmHubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Ultraviolet
Mid-UV
255 nmHubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Ultraviolet
Near-UV
336 nmHubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Optical
B
439 nmHubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Optical
V
547 nmHubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Optical
R
675 nmHubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Infrared
I
814 nmHubble Space Telescope
WFPC2