Star cluster · NGC 8697,500 light-years away
Double Cluster
The Double Cluster (NGC 869 and its twin NGC 884) is a dazzling pair of young open star clusters glittering side by side in the constellation Perseus, each packed with hundreds of brilliant blue-white supergiant stars only about 14 million years old. Famous since antiquity — the Greek astronomer Hipparchus cataloged it around 130 BCE — this naked-eye showpiece in the Milky Way's Perseus Arm is one of the most beloved targets for binoculars and small telescopes.
