Photo of the Day: Starfish Beehive

Photo of the Day: Starfish Beehive

On the website of the Hubble Space Telescope, under the heading “image of the week”, there is a photograph of the open star cluster NGC 1805, located in the constellation Dorado.

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Open star clusters contain a group of luminaries that are usually about the same age. However, observations show that NGC 1805 includes stars of two generations, separated by millions of years.

The captured luminaries are located very close to each other. They can be compared to bees swarming around the hive.

In the above image, the cluster NGC 1805 appears as a group of bright points of several colors – blue, white, and orange-red. Many of these stars are relatively recently formed.

We add that this year Hubble celebrated its thirtieth anniversary: the device was launched on April 24, 1990, aboard the STS-31 Discovery shuttle. For many years of service, the orbital observatory has transmitted to Earth a huge number of beautiful pictures of the Universe and a lot of scientific information, the significance of which cannot be overestimated.