The Jewel Box, NGC 4755 from the ESO. Wallpaper links below. Credit the ESO.

The Jewel Box is another name for the open cluster NGC 4755. From the looks of this ESO image, it’s little wonder how English astronomer John Hershel came up with the name when he coined it in the 1830’s.

NGC 4755 is an open cluster, a collection of stars bound loosely by gravity evolved from the same “nursery”, or cloud of dust and gas, so they tend to be similar in age and composition.  Because they are all of the same approximate age, but do vary in mass so they can be at differing life stages.

Higher mass stars will age faster than lower mass stars and sometimes you can see stars in the red giant phase (more mature and nearing the end of their lives) right along with other stars that might only be half way through their lives or even less.

Located about 6400 light-years away, in the constellation of Crux, near the Southern Cross, I know many readers can see it just fine, sadly it’s too far south for me.  No matter, The Jewel Box is stunning and I decided it would make a very nice desktop.  While I was at it I made up a few different sizes, most required some clipping of the image.  Many thanks to the ESO for  sharing this.

Here’s the wallpapers: