NGC 3293 is an

open cluster An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of up 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 ...

in the

Carina constellation Carina ( ) is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the keel of a ship, and it was the southern foundation of the larger constellation of Argo Navis (the ship ''Argo'') until it was divided into three pieces, the other two be ...

. It was discovered by

Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (; 15 March 171321 March 1762), formerly sometimes spelled de la Caille, was a kingdom of France, French astronomer and geodesist who named 14 out of the IAU designated constellations, 88 constellations. From 1750 ...

in 1751. It consists of more than 100 stars brighter than 14th magnitude in a 10 arc minute field, the brightest of which are blue supergiants of apparent magnitude 6.5 and 6.7. There is also a 7th magnitude pulsating red supergiant, V361 Carinae. NGC 3293 is associated with the open cluster

NGC 3324 NGC 3324 is an open cluster in the southern constellation Carina, located northwest of the Carina Nebula at a distance of from Earth. It is closely associated with the emission nebula , also known as . The two are often confused as a single ob ...

. Both are fairly young, at around 12 million years old. They show some degree of

mass segregation In astronomy, dynamical mass segregation is the process by which heavier members of a gravitationally bound system, such as a star cluster, tend to move toward the center, while lighter members tend to move farther away from the center. Equipar ...

, with more massive stars concentrated near their centers. Neither are dynamically relaxed.

References

External links

*
NGC 3293 @ SEDS NGC objects pages
* * {{star-cluster-stub Carina Nebula

NGC 3293 NGC 3293 is an open cluster in the Carina constellation. It was discovered by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (; 15 March 171321 March 1762), formerly sometimes spelled de la Caille, was a French astronomer and ge ...

3293 Carina (constellation) 3293