M35

Open star cluster M35 contains several hundred stars scattered over the area covered by the full Moon. At its distance of 2,750, this corresponds to a linear diameter of about 24 light years; its central density is about 6.21 stars per cubic parsec. The age of M35 is estimated to be about 100 million years, putting it near average, and it contains some post-main sequence stars (including several yellow and orange giants of spectral type late G to early K). Its hottest main sequence star is given as of spectral class B3. M35 lies just 15 arcminutes northeast of NGC 2158, an older and much more distant open cluster that contains many more stars. NGC 2158 can be seen as a mottled smudge in the upper right portion of my photo below.

Image taken Feb. 6, 2013 with the D-90 and the 300mm F:4.5 Nikkor lens. ISO set to 3200 and exposure was 15 seconds. Final result was cropped.

Data not recorded on this shot but likely was the 300mm Nikkor lens mounted on an SBIG camera.