🔭 M34 — Spiral Cluster

Open cluster in Perseus

M34, Spiral Cluster is a open cluster in the constellation Perseus, with an apparent magnitude of about 5.5, roughly 1.5 thousand light-years away.

Data

Catalogue designation	M34
Common name	Spiral Cluster
Object type	Open cluster
Constellation	Perseus
NGC / IC	NGC 1039
Apparent magnitude	5.5
Distance (approx.)	1.5 thousand light-years

What a open cluster is

A loose, young family of a few dozen to a few thousand stars born together from the same gas cloud and drifting apart over time. The Pleiades are the most famous example.

Other Messier objects in Perseus: M76.

Data: Messier catalogue & IAU constellations, via English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) · stored statically.