Kap

Its story

Kappa Crucis lent its name to one of the loveliest clusters in the southern sky: the Jewel Box, NGC 4755, found by Lacaille in 1751 and christened by John Herschel when he described it as «a superb piece of fancy jewellery». To the unaided eye it looks like a hazy star southeast of the Southern Cross; in a telescope it opens into a handful of blue supergiants beside a single ruby-red giant, all born of the same forming episode 14 million years ago.