M67

M67 or Messier 67 (also known as NGC 2682) is an open cluster in the southern, equatorial half of Cancer. It was discovered by Johann Gottfried Koehler in 1779. Estimates of its age range between 3.2 and 5 billion years. Distance estimates are likewise varied, but typically are 800–900 parsecs (2,600–2,900 ly).

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Its a dimmer open cluster located not far from it’s more famous companion M44 Beehive Cluster in Cancer M67 is not the oldest known open cluster, but there are few Milky Way clusters known to be older, and none of those is closer than M67. It is a paradigm study object in stellar evolution it is well-populated has negligible amounts of dust obscuration all its stars are at the same distance and age, save for approximately 30 anomalous blue stragglers

Keywords: M67, Messier, Cancer, open cluster