Messier 93 – The Critter Cluster

Messier 93 is an open star cluster in the Puppis constellation roughly 3,600 light years away. It contains around 80 stars and spans 20 to 25 light years. Its age has been estimated at approximately 100 million years.

Open star clusters (or “open clusters”) are collections of stars—perhaps a few dozen to a few thousand—that likely formed in the same molecular cloud, but are not gravitationally bound to each other. They eventually wander away from each other and find their own paths through the galaxy. Our own sun was probably once part of an open cluster at one time but has since moved out on its own.