The open star cluster known as M 35 is located about 2,800 light years from our solar system in the direction of the constellation of Gemini. It contains several hundred stars and is about 24 light years across. The cluster can be seen as the bluish grouping of stars in the upper left quarter of the photo.
Also in this photo is another cluster, NGC 2158, located at lower right. NGC 2158 contains stars that are older and redder. This cluster is also more compact and distant than M 35. It is about 16,000 light years away from our solar system.
In 1764 Charles Messier made it the thirty fifth object, M35, of his famous catalog.
This image is a composite from images taken with the Palomar Observatory's 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope as a part of the Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey.
