This environment is not as peaceful as it looks. Ultraviolet radiation and violent stellar winds have blown out an enormous cavity in the gas and dust enveloping the cluster, providing an unobstructed view of the cluster.
Most of the stars in the cluster were born around the same time but differ in size, mass, temperature, and color. The course of a star's life is determined by its mass, so a cluster of a given age will contain stars in various stages of their lives, giving an opportunity for detailed analyses of stellar life cycles. NGC 3603 also contains some of the most massive stars known. These huge stars live fast and die young, burning through their hydrogen fuel quickly and ultimately ending their lives in supernova explosions.
Star clusters like NGC 3603 provide important clues to understanding the origin of massive star formation in the early, distant universe. Astronomers also use massive clusters to study distant starbursts that occur when galaxies collide, igniting a flurry of star formation. The proximity of NGC 3603 makes it an excellent lab for studying such distant and momentous events. /NASA
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), F. Paresce (National Institute for Astrophysics, Bologna, Italy), E. Young (Universities Space Research Association/Ames Research Center), the WFC3 Science Oversight Committee, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
New General Catalogue (NGC), fullständig titel New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, är en katalog över upptäckta planetariska nebulosor, stjärnhopar och galaxer. NGC utgavs 1888 och sammanställdes av den danske astronomen J.L.E. Dreyer. NGC baseras på visuella observationer gjorda av John Herschel, och innehåller nästan 8000 objekt. Dreyer gav senare ut en reviderad upplaga, RNGC, och två tilläggskataloger, IC (Index Catalogues), 1895 respektive 1908. IC omfattar tillsammans cirka 5000 objekt.
Totalt täcker NGC och IC hela himlen, men graden av täckning är något lägre för det södra halvklotets himmelssfär.
(R)NGC är fortfarande populära hos amatörastronomer då de tar upp många olika typer av objekt, och inte är specialiserade. /Källa: Wikipedia
Carina = stjärnbilden Kölen.
Kölen? Ja: "The story behind the name: Carina means the keel or bottom of a ship. This constellation was originally part of a larger pattern representing an entire sailing ship. A ship pattern was recognized by several ancient civilizations. The Egyptians saw the constellation as the boat that carried the gods Isis and Osiris during a worldwide flood. The ancient Indians also saw a ship. The Greeks recognized a giant constellation which was called (in Latin) Argo Navis. The story most often associated with the constellation is that it represented the ship, Argo, sailed by the mythical Greek heroes Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece" / Källa: Modern Constellation av astronomen Abbe Nicholas de Lacaille
Docendo discimus ("genom att undervisa lär vi oss själva").
