Open Cluster M50

Explanation : Many stars form in clusters. Two types of star clusters are visible in our Milky Way Galaxy : open clusters and globular clusters . Open clusters like M50, shown above , typically contain hundreds of stars , many of which are bright, young, and blue. In fact, most of the bright blue stars in the above picture belong to M50 , but most of the dimmer, red stars do not. M50 lies about 3000 light-years from Earth and is about 20 light years across. Open clusters tend to have irregular shapes and are mostly found in the plane of our Galaxy .