M34, NGC 1039

The open cluster M34, 1400 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Perseus, contains about a hundred stars in a region some dozen light-years across, and is visible to the naked eye under good conditions. This approximately true-color picture was created from images taken in July 1996 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, during the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program operated at the Kitt Peak National Observatory and supported by the National Science Foundation. Image size 34.6 arc minutes.