Object Analysis

Messier 34 (M34) is an open cluster in the constellation Perseus. It was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and independenty found by Charles Messier in 1764. It is located approximately 1,500 light-years from Earth and contains about 400 stars.

The cluster is about 200 million years old. It spans about 35 arcminutes on the sky, which is slightly larger than the full moon. M34 is a "rich" cluster, meaning it has a high density of stars toward its center. Most of its members are main-sequence stars, though a few have already begun the transition into red giants.

M34 is easily visible with binoculars as a faint, grainy patch. In a small telescope, it resolves into a beautiful, sprawling collection of stars with several bright double stars near its center. It is part of the Local Arm of the Milky Way and is moving through space in the same general direction as the Pleiades and the Beehive clusters.