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Open Cluster M50

Open Cluster M50

Credit & copyright: Open Cluster M50 Credit and Copyright: S. Kohle, T. Credner et al.

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 .

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