Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Perseus (Per)  ·  Contains:  M 34  ·  NGC 1039
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M 34 - Open Cluster in Perseus, Earle Waghorne
M 34 - Open Cluster in Perseus
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M 34 - Open Cluster in Perseus

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M 34 - Open Cluster in Perseus, Earle Waghorne
M 34 - Open Cluster in Perseus
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M 34 - Open Cluster in Perseus

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Description

M34 (NGC 1039) was probably discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and is included in Messier's catalog in 1764.

It is a relatively large open cluster in the constellation Perseus. It is located around 1500 light years from Earth and has a diameter of around 7.5 light years. Its age is estimated to be around 299-250 million years and the stars have higher proportion of most heavy elements (metallicity) than the Sun. At least 19 members of the cluster are white dwarfs, the remnants of large stars (up to 8 solar masses).[1]

Interestingly: "In 1983, scientists discovered that the spatial motion of M34 coincided with that of the Pleiades cluster (Messier 45) in Taurus, the open cluster NGC 2516 and the Southern Pleiades (Theta Carinae Cluster, IC 2602) in Carina, the Delta Lyrae Cluster (Stephenson I) in Lyra, and the Alpha Persei Cluster in Perseus. American astronomer Olin J. Eggen, who made the discovery, called this group of open clusters the Local Association. The stars in these clusters share a common age and place of origin." [2]

There should have been 100 Lum as well but most were unusable. I added the few that were left because they were very good, as were the RGB lights.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_34

[2] https://www.messier-objects.com/messier-34/

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M 34 - Open Cluster in Perseus, Earle Waghorne