NGC 3293 is 8000 light-years away. This is a young open star cluster living in the north-west of the Carina Nebula. The cluster is interesting because it contains a collection of bright stars, among which 48 belong to the early type B. Despite its remarkable nature, it remained the only one in the Nebula that was not yet observed in the X-ray survey. The reason is an angular separation of 230 light years from the center.
But everything changed in 2015, when a group of scientists conducted the first X-ray survey. This led to the discovery of more than 1000 independent point sources. The analysis shows that there are 3,600 stars in the cluster, which is why it becomes one of the most populated among competitors in the low-mass category. At ages of 8–10 million years, this is the oldest cluster in the Nebula. Most likely, in the first millions of years, O-type stars lived on its territory. Scientists think that their transformation into supernovae can play an important role in the evolutionary process of the entire Carina Nebula.
Researchers say that the study of ages and stellar populations in clusters will affect the assessment of the space-time progression of star formation in large complexes.
