This open star cluster contains unusually old population of stars

This celestial landscape captured by the Hubble Space Telescope shows a portion of Messier 67, an open star cluster that contains an unusually old population of stars. Also known as NGC 2682, the King Cobra Cluster, and the Golden Eye Cluster, this open cluster is one of the oldest known open clusters at approximately 4 billion years of age - about the same as our Sun.

First observed by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Koehler in 1779, M67 resides about 2,700 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cancer. The cluster is composed of approximately 100 stars that are similar to our Sun in terms of their composition and age. Additionally, M67 contains several red giant and white dwarf stars. Interestingly, there are also about 30 "blue stragglers" in the cluster - stars that appear brighter and bluer than the rest. This may be due to them pulling material from a binary companion.

M67 is best visible in the spring skies in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in March. To locate M67, search for the upside-down Y shape in Cancer. M67 is situated to the west of the easternmost star of the Y. Alternatively, you can go to the midpoint of an imaginary line that connects Regulus in Leo and Procyon in Canis Minor, and then look slightly north. M67 appears as a faint patch of light when viewed through binoculars.

A handful of bright stars are strewn across the cosmos like sparkling sequins on velvet in this new Hubble image of a section of Messier 67.M67 is an open star cluster, which means that its over 500 stars are loosely grouped together by gravity: https://t.co/uS1vNiPLWK pic.twitter.com/uzfGhnOlHJ

— Hubble (@NASAHubble) March 10, 2024