M47, NGC 2422

M47 is an open cluster in the constellation Puppis, and was known to several observers before being independently discovered by Messier. A coarse bright cluster of some 50 stars, it can be seen by the suitably primed naked eye at a good dark location, as a dim fuzzy spot. About 1600 light-years away, it is spread over an area about that of the full moon (30 arc minutes across), or some 14 light-years linearly. This approximately true-color picture was created from fifteen images taken in January 1997 using BVR colors, at the Burrell Schmidt Telescope of Case Western Reserve University's Warner and Swasey Observatory located on Kitt Peak, near Tucson, Arizona. Image size 40.6 arc minutes.