M 41

A broad open cluster in Canis Major, lying southward of the brilliant star Sirius. M41 covers an area of the sky slightly greater than that of the Moon's disc, though it is marginally too faint to be visible without telescopic aid.

The cluster contains about a hundred stars of different shades of oranges and blues, scattered through an area some twenty-five light years in diameter. To an observer on Earth, the brightest star in the cluster is the orange giant HD 49091, which appears to lie near the cluster's centre (though in fact it lies on edge of the cluster nearest to the Solar System). M 41 lies at a distance of 2360 light-years from Earth and is estimated at 200 million years old.

Hope ya like it!

Tom