Messier 37 (also known as M37, NGC 2099, or the Salt and Pepper Cluster) is the brightest and richest open cluster in the constellation Auriga.
M37 exists in the antipodal direction, opposite from the Galactic Center as seen from Earth, so is in one of the nearby outer arms. Specifically it is still close enough to be in our own. Estimates of its age range from 347 million to 550 million years. It has 1,500 times the mass of the Sun (M☉) and contains over 500 identified stars, with roughly 150 stars brighter than magnitude 12.5. M37 has at least a dozen red giants and its hottest surviving main sequence star is of stellar classification B9 V.
| Object | M37 Salt and Pepper Cluster |
| Constellation: | Auriga |
| Position: | 5h 52m 18s DEC +32° 33′ 02″ |
| Apparent Size: | 24 arcmins |
| Apparent Magnitude: | 6.2 |
| Distance in light years: | 4511 ly |
| Photo Data | |
| Date of Expose: | 26.10.2019 |
| Location: |
Knottenried/Oberallgäu/Germany (1002m ASL) GPS: 47°36’13“ N / 10°11’24“ E |
| Telescope: | TS 14" RC f/d 8.0 / 2845mm |
| Camera: | Sony A7Ra mod @ T sensor = +14.1°C |
| Field of View: | 0.72 x 0.48 deg |
| Pixel Scale/Resolution: | 0.35 arcsec/px |
| Expose frames/times: | OSC RAW 9x90s, 18 darks, ISO 3200 |
| Total expose: | 13min 30s |
| Filter: | no |
| Mount: | HPS 10Micron GM 3000 |
| Software: | DSS 3.3.4, Photoshop CC |
| Remarks: |
© Photos by Peter Cerveny
© Object description/intro text fully or partially by Wikipedia,
which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License