M41
open star cluster · in Canis Major
2,332 light-years from Earth
A bright cluster four degrees south of Sirius, with an orange giant near its middle. It may be the faint patch Aristotle noted around 325 BC; if so, it is the faintest object recorded in ancient times.
- 2,330 light-years (Gaia) · its stars spread over about 45 light-years
- about 170 to 300 million years old · 598 of its stars as Gaia measured them
- kind
- nebula · star cluster
- catalogue
- M41 · NGC 2287
- size
- 46 light-years across