Open cluster
M35 (M35)
In Gemini (Gem) • Magnitude 5.3 • 28 arcminutes
Open the free AstroPlanner with M35 pre-selected, scored against your telescope, location, and the live cloud forecast.
A rich open cluster of around 500 stars in Gemini, spanning roughly the same area as the full Moon. In the background lurks a second, much older cluster (NGC 2158) nearly ten times farther away — two completely unrelated clusters accidentally aligned along our line of sight, creating a sense of cosmic depth in a single image.
M35 at a glance
| Catalog IDs | M35, N 2168 |
| Type | Open cluster |
| Constellation | Gemini (Gem) |
| Right ascension | 06h 08m 53s |
| Declination | +24° 19' 48" |
| Apparent magnitude | 5.30 |
| Angular size | 28.0 × 28.0 arcmin |
| Max altitude at 45°N | 69° |
| Best imaging months | Sep, Oct, Nov |
How to image M35
M35 sits in the constellation Gemini at right ascension 06h 08m 53s and declination +24° 19' 48". To frame and integrate it well, AstroPlanner will compute the optimal moonless window for tonight from your location, the field-of-view fit against your sensor and focal length, the suggested total integration time given your aperture and sky Bortle class, and a cloud-aware schedule that drops it from the plan if your nearest cloud forecast spike overlaps the best altitude window.