Compared to the sun, the stars in these clusters are massive and short lived . The brightest one, near the tip of the hook, is a rare Luminous Blue Variable with 30 to 60 times the mass of the sun - similar to the erruptive Eta Carina variable in our own Milky Way. Stars this massive are extremely variable . A comparison with ground based images indicates that in three years this star's brightness increased by about 40 times making it currently the brightest star in this dim galaxy . Studies of such distant and diverse galaxies yield clues to the relationships of star formation and galactic evolution .
Specific rights apply .