M37 // Seokhee Kim

M37, NGC 2099

Constellation of Auriga.

Distance: 4.100 ly

Nov 07 2023 -Montcada i Reixac

2019 June 23

Carina Nebula Panorama from Hubble Image Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (U. California, Berkeley) et al., and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Explanation: How do violent stars affect their surroundings? To help find out, astronomers created a 48-frame high-resolution, controlled-color panorama of the center of the Carina Nebula, one of the largest star forming regions on the night sky. The featured image, taken in 2007, was the most detailed image of the Carina Nebula yet taken. Cataloged as NGC 3372, the Carina Nebula is home to streams of hot gas, pools of cool gas, knots of dark globules, and pillars of dense dusty interstellar matter. The Keyhole Nebula, visible left of center, houses several of the most massive stars known. These large and violent stars likely formed in dark globules and continually reshape the nebula with their energetic light, outflowing stellar winds, and ultimately by ending their lives in supernova explosions. Visible to the unaided eye, the entire Carina Nebula spans over 450 light years and lies about 8,500 light-years away toward the constellation of Ship's Keel (Carina).

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190623.html

M37 // Dimitrios Georgomanos

The Salt and Pepper Cluster, M37 // Seokhee Kim

The Salt and Pepper Cluster is the brightest, richest, and largest of the three star clusters in Auriga in Messier's catalog. It contains more than 500 member stars, and is relatively older at about 400 million years old. Admiral William Smyth (1788-1865) described it as "A magnificent object, the whole field being strewed as it were with sparkling gold-dust."

M37 // Bruce Larsen

M37 // Dionysus

M37 (right) and SNR G179.0+2.6 (blue, left) // Göran Nilsson

The Salt and Pepper Cluster, M37 // Jerry Macon