The object at the center of this image looks like a sparse open star cluster. But it is not.
This
Astrobin Debut Object is a distant galaxy cluster located 1.5 billion light years away in the constellation of Ursa Major at a declination of +40 degrees. It is also known as MLCG 0081.
This is a dense galaxy cluster, with 17 galaxies contained within a 1 arc-minute circle. That circle corresponds to a 500,000 light year diameter. Studies have shown that this is a true cluster, with all 17 galaxies at the same distance away.
The largest and brightest galaxy, LEDA 32808, is the elliptical galaxy at center. It is about 70,000 light years in diameter.
The cluster was discovered in 1957 by the Armenian astronomer Dr. Romela Shakhbazian. Dr. Shakhbazian catalogued 377 compact groups of galaxies.
The blue object just to the left is a magnitude 18 Seyfert galaxy, Mrk 1269, which is at the same 1.5 billion light year distance.
For fun, Revision D provides a comparison between this object and the open star cluster NGC 3228, just to show how this object really does resemble a star cluster.
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