by Using astrometric, photometric and optical spectroscopy data from ESA’s Gaia mission and the 2MASS survey, astronomers have discovered a large, populous, young open cluster in the constellation of Scutum.
Open clusters are large collections of stars weakly bound by the shackles of gravity, all of which formed from the same molecular cloud.
Because of this, all the stars have the same composition and age, but vary in their mass because they formed at different positions within the cloud.
This unique property gives astronomers a cosmic laboratory in which to study the formation and evolution of stars — a process that is thought to depend strongly on a star’s mass.
The newly-discovered open cluster resides approximately 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Scutum.
Named Valparaiso 1, the cluster belongs to the Sagittarius arm of our Milky Way Galaxy.
It is about 75 million years old, and contains at least 15,000 stars.
Ten luminous bright giant or supergiant stars are members of the cluster, including the well-known Cepheid CM Sct.
Source
Open clusters are large collections of stars weakly bound by the shackles of gravity, all of which formed from the same molecular cloud.
Because of this, all the stars have the same composition and age, but vary in their mass because they formed at different positions within the cloud.
This unique property gives astronomers a cosmic laboratory in which to study the formation and evolution of stars — a process that is thought to depend strongly on a star’s mass.
The newly-discovered open cluster resides approximately 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Scutum.
Named Valparaiso 1, the cluster belongs to the Sagittarius arm of our Milky Way Galaxy.
It is about 75 million years old, and contains at least 15,000 stars.
Ten luminous bright giant or supergiant stars are members of the cluster, including the well-known Cepheid CM Sct.
Source
