Spiral Cluster

M34 in Perseus lies about 1,500 light-years away and contains roughly 400 stars spread across 35 light-years. At around 200 million years old it is a middle-aged open cluster by astronomical standards — young enough that many of its hot blue stars are still on the main sequence, but old enough that the most massive ones have already evolved away. Several double stars within the cluster are resolvable through a small telescope.