Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Many stars form in clusters.
Open clusters like M50, shown above , typically contain hundreds of stars , many of which are bright, young, and blue. M50 lies about 3000 light-years from Earth and is about 20 light years across. Open clusters tend to have irregular shapes and are mostly found in the plane of our Galaxy . Specific rights apply .