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NGC 1872: open or globular cluster?

This spectacular NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope picture shows NGC 1872, a rich cluster of thousands of stars lying in our small neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. This little-studied cluster is located in the constellation of Dorado. The Scottish astronomer James Dunlop was probably the first to spot NGC 1872 in 1826 with a small telescope near Sydney in Australia.

Star clusters are usually classed as either open or globular but NGC 1872 has characteristics of both — it is as rich as a typical globular but is much younger, and, like many open clusters, has bluer stars. Such intermediate clusters are common in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

(click pic for HQ)