What physical characteristic causes young open clusters to exhibit bright, blue-white light?
Answer
The presence of massive, luminous stars burning fuel quickly
The signature visual aspect of a young open cluster is its brilliant, hot, blue-white appearance. This luminosity is directly attributable to the cluster still retaining a substantial population of massive stars. These massive stars consume their nuclear fuel at an extremely rapid rate, causing them to shine intensely with a blue-white hue. As the cluster ages, these massive stars exhaust their fuel and evolve or die, leaving behind dimmer, longer-lived stars that are yellower or redder, thus changing the cluster's overall visual signature over cosmic time.
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