Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Crux (Cru)  ·  Contains:  Jewel Box  ·  Mimosa (βCru)  ·  NGC 4755  ·  The star Becrux  ·  The star κCru  ·  kappa Cru cluster
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Mimosa and the Jewel Box Cluster, DavidLJ
Mimosa and the Jewel Box Cluster
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Mimosa and the Jewel Box Cluster

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Mimosa and the Jewel Box Cluster, DavidLJ
Mimosa and the Jewel Box Cluster
Powered byPixInsight

Mimosa and the Jewel Box Cluster

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Description

Mimosa ( Beta Crucis) is a very hot class B0.5 blue-white giant star shining at magnitude 1.28. It lies 350 light years away from us and forms the easternmost (i.e. the left-hand) star of the Southern Cross. Just to the right of Mimosa lies the carbon star DY Crucis - arguably the reddest star in the sky.

At a distance of 6,440 light years the Jewel Box cluster (NGC 4755) contains around 100 stars, mostly blue giants, the brightest of which is the supergiant kCru shining at magnitude 5.9. The fourth brightest member (a red supergiant shining at magnitude 7.2) can just be made out in this image due to its ruddy colour.

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Mimosa and the Jewel Box Cluster, DavidLJ