🔭 M38 — Starfish Cluster

Open cluster in Auriga

M38, Starfish Cluster is a open cluster in the constellation Auriga, with an apparent magnitude of about 7.4, roughly 4.2 thousand light-years away.

Data

Catalogue designation	M38
Common name	Starfish Cluster
Object type	Open cluster
Constellation	Auriga
NGC / IC	NGC 1912
Apparent magnitude	7.4
Distance (approx.)	4.2 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: M36, M37.

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