This
Astrobin Debut Object is an extragalactic open cluster located 40,000 light years away in the constellation of Gemini at a declination of +17 degrees. This cluster spans 2 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to a diameter of 20 light years.
This object has the distinction of being the most distant open cluster from the core of our galaxy. It lies 70,000 light years from the galactic center. It is believed to have originated outside of the Milky Way galaxy, in the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy. It is now within our Milky Way, as part of the former galaxy’s stellar stream.
It is amazing to me to realize that this open cluster is 100 times further away than M45 (Pleiades).
The cluster is most easily seen by first focusing on the sky background along the edges of the framing, mentally filtering out the bright foreground stars from your view. Notice the sparse density of small background stars in these areas. Then look at the center of the image and see the concentration of small orange, blue and white stars of this open cluster.
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