NGC 2002 (also known as ESO 86-SC3) is an

open cluster An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of tens to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, and ...

located in the

Dorado Dorado (, ) is a constellation in the Southern Sky. It was named in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the mahi-mahi (''Coryphaena hippurus''), which is known as ''dorado'' ("golden") in Sp ...

constellation and is part of the

Large Magellanic Cloud The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a dwarf galaxy and satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. At a distance of around , the LMC is the second- or third-closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy, Sagittarius Dwarf ...

. It was discovered by

James Dunlop James Dunlop FRSE (31 October 1793 – 22 September 1848) was a Scottish astronomer, noted for his work in Australia. He was employed by Sir Thomas Brisbane to work as astronomer's assistant at his private observatory, once located at Param ...

on September 24, 1826. Its apparent magnitude is 10.1, and its size is 2.0 arc minutes. NGC 2002 contains five

red supergiant Red supergiants (RSGs) are stars with a supergiant luminosity class ( Yerkes class I) and a stellar classification K or M. They are the largest stars in the universe in terms of volume, although they are not the most massive or luminous. Betelg ...

s, prominent in deep images of the cluster. Together with the

main sequence turnoff The turnoff point for a star refers to the point on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram where it leaves the main sequence after its main fuel is exhaustedthe main sequence turnoff. By plotting the turnoff points of individual stars in a star clust ...

, these tightly constrain the age of the cluster to 18 million years. The cluster shows strong stellar stratification with the brightest stars concentrated at the centre of the cluster and fainter stars dominating further out.

References

External links

* Open clusters

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

ESO objects Dorado Large Magellanic Cloud Astronomical objects discovered in 1826 Discoveries by James Dunlop {{star-cluster-stub