File:A_Snapshot_of_the_Jewel_Box_cluster_with_the_ESO_VLT.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Jewel Box
Sign in to saveAlso known as Kappa Crucis Cluster, New General Catalogue 4755, Caldwell 94, C 94
open cluster in the constellation Crux
Key facts
- Right ascension
- 12 53 42
- Declination
- −60 ° 22.0 ′
- Distance
- 6.50 kly (1.99 kpc )
- Mass
- – M ☉
- Radius
- –
- Estimated age
- 16 Myr
- Other designations
- Herschel's Jewel Box, κ Crucis cluster, NGC 4755, Cr 264, Caldwell 94
- Constellation
- Crux
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- open cluster
- Constellation
- Crux
- Distance from Earth
- 3435.579
- Image
- A Snapshot of the Jewel Box cluster with the ESO VLT.jpg
Show 11 more facts
- right ascension
- 193.4125
- apparent magnitude
- 4.2
- Commons category
- NGC 4755
- catalog code
- [KPS2012] MWSC 2072
- discoverer or inventor
- Nicolas Louis de Lacaille
- time of discovery or invention
- 1751-00-00
- declination
- -60.3617
- radial velocity
- -20.0
- epoch
- J2000.0
- right ascension component of proper motion
- -4.44
- declination component of proper motion
- -0.67
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Jewel Box (also known as the Kappa Crucis cluster, NGC 4755, or Caldwell 94) is an open cluster in the constellation Crux, originally discovered by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1751–1752. This cluster was later named the Jewel Box by John Herschel when he described its telescopic appearance as "... a superb piece of fancy jewellery". It is easily visible to the naked eye as a hazy star some 1.0° southeast of the first-magnitude star Mimosa (Beta Crucis). This hazy star was given the Bayer star designation "Kappa Crucis", from which the cluster takes one of its common names. The modern designation Kappa Crucis has been assigned to one of the stars in the base of the A-shaped asterism of the cluster.
This cluster is one of the youngest known, with an estimated age of 14 million years. It has a total integrated magnitude of 4.2, is located 1.99 kpc, or 6497 light years from Earth, and contains just over 100 stars.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Jewel Box” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.