Aligned/combined all files in AutostarSuite Image Processing software
Imported resulting files to Photoshop 7 via FITS liberator
Adjusted levels and Curves
Reduced small blue halo's via Noel Carboni's photoshop actions
Description: M36
Discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654.
M36 is about 4,100 light years distant (only Kenneth Glyn Jones disagrees and has 3,700), so that its angular diameter of 12' corresponds to about 14 light years (Wallenquist gives an apparent diameter of 19', corresponding to over 20 light years). It has about 60 proven members, the brightest of which are of apparent mag 9 and spectral type B2; the luminosity of the brightest member is about 360 times that of the Sun. Many of these bright stars are rapidly rotating, as shown by their broadened spectral lines, an effect which is also found for the bright type B members of the Pleiades (M45). If it were at the same distance (i.e., 10 times closer), this cluster would look as conspicuous as and very similar to the Pleiades.
