Galactic Cluster, NGC 2367
Rich view of an array of colorful stars and gas was captured by the Wide Field Imager (WFI) camera, on the MPG/ESO telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. It shows a young open cluster of stars known as NGC 2367, an infant stellar grouping that lies at the center of an immense and ancient structure on the margins of the Milky Way. Open clusters like NGC 2367 are a common sight in spiral galaxies like the Milky Way, and tend to form in their host's outer regions. On their travels about the galactic centre, they are affected by the gravity of other clusters, as well as by large clouds of gas that they pass close to. Because open clusters are only loosely bound by gravity to begin with, and because they constantly lose mass as some of their gas is pushed away by the radiation of the young hot stars, these disturbances occur often enough to cause the stars to wander off from their siblings, just as the Sun is believed to have done many years ago. An open cluster is generally expected to survive for a few hundred million years before it is completely dispersed. Release date July 1, 2015.
Size: 3900px × 3680px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 2010s, 2015, 21st, 2367, astronomical, astronomy, body, celestial, century, cluster, deep, galactic, heavenly, ngc, ngc2367, object, open, science, sky, space, star
