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Object Type: Open cluster
Constellation: Gemini
Magnitude: 5.1
Size: 28'

One of the finest open clusters, M35 is located near the foot of Gemini, and is easily visible to the naked eye under dark skies. It measures about 25 light-years across and is located 2,800 light-years from the solar system. It is estimated to be about 110 million years old. The open cluster NGC 2158 is to the lower right of M35, and is located 16,000 light-years from the solar system and estimated to be 3.2 billion years old, very old for an open cluster.

Equipment: ST-10XME/Vixen 102-ED/G-11
F-ratio: f/6.5
Exposures: LRGB: L 8 x 3 minutes: R 8 x 3 minutes: G 8 x 3 minutes: B 8 x 3 minutes: RGB binned 2x2
Date:  March 10, 2005
Location: Landers, California, USA
Technical Notes: The individual exposures were dithered using CCDAutoPilot and were sigma combined. The RGB composite was made using Registar 1.0, and the LRGB composited in Photoshop. Gaussian Blur of 1 pixel was applied to the RGB image.