🔭 M36 — Pinwheel Cluster

Open cluster in Auriga

M36, Pinwheel Cluster is a open cluster in the constellation Auriga, with an apparent magnitude of about 6.3, roughly 4.1 thousand light-years away.

Data

Catalogue designation	M36
Common name	Pinwheel Cluster
Object type	Open cluster
Constellation	Auriga
NGC / IC	NGC 1960
Apparent magnitude	6.3
Distance (approx.)	4.1 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 Auriga: M37, M38.

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