cluster · NGC 869
h Persei
h Persei (NGC 869) is the western component of the famous Double Cluster in Perseus, one of the finest sights in the northern sky. It lies about 7,500 light-years away and is only around 13 million years old — a stellar infant by any measure. The cluster is dominated by brilliant blue-white supergiant stars, with a sprinkling of contrasting red supergiants that have already evolved off the main sequence. Both clusters likely formed from the same giant molecular cloud.