Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

NGC 3603: An Active Star Cluster

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 18, 1999 is “NGC 3603: An Active Star Cluster,” an image. It is credited to Credit: B. Brandl (Cornell) et al., ISAAC, VLT, ESO. The original explanation runs about 120 words.

NGC 3603: An Active Star Cluster
Credit: B. Brandl (Cornell) et al., ISAAC, VLT, ESO Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“NGC 3603 is home to a massive star cluster, thick dust pillars, and a star about to explode . The central open cluster contains about 2000 bright stars, each of which is much brighter and more massive than our Sun .”

— APOD editors, October 18, 1999

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
October 18, 1999
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: B. Brandl (Cornell) et al., ISAAC, VLT, ESO
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 120 words

All of October 1999 → · 1999 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

The SunStar clusters

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: October 18 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.