14 DAY TRIAL // A new space image shared with the public by astronomers with the European Southern Observatory shows a group of insanely hot stars that are part and parcel of a cluster known to the scientific community as Messier 47.
The image, included in the gallery below, was produced as part of the European Southern Observatory's Cosmic Gems program. If we're going to be honest here, it must be said that the stars featured in it really do look like cosmic precious stones.
As detailed by Eurek Alert, the Messier 47 star cluster is located at a distance of about 1,600 light-years from our planet. It comprises both hot stars, which appear colored in blue, and somewhat cooler ones, which are depicted in red.
What's interesting is that, although quite a sight, Messier 47 is one of the least densely populated star systems of this kind thus far documented by astronomers. Thus, researchers say that just 50 stars are observable in an area measuring as much as 12 light-years across.
Just to put things into perspective, it must be said that other open clusters that astronomers have until now had the chance to study pack thousands of stars in a region of the same size. Otherwise put, Messier 47 is not exactly what some would call a complex cluster.
Evidence at hand indicates that the Messier 47 star cluster formed some 78 million years ago. Although it was first observed by an Italian researcher named Giovanni Battista Hodiera back in the 17th century, it bears the name of astronomer Charles Messier, who discovered it on his own some time later.
