An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A prominent → star cluster, and the ionizing core of giant → H II region → N66 in the → Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy. NGC 346 hosts the largest sample of young, → massive stars in the whole SMC, containing 33 → O-type stars among which 11 are of type O6.5 or earlier. This is young massive star cluster with an estimated age of about 3 million years.

See also: 346, a serial number in the → New General Catalogue.