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Messier 67 is an open cluster—a group of stars held loosely together by gravity—located in the constellation Cancer, containing hundreds of stars that formed together around the same time. Astronomers find it particularly valuable for study because its stars are relatively old and similar to our Sun, making it useful for understanding how stars age and evolve over time.
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Messier 67 (also known as M67 or NGC 2682) and sometimes called the King Cobra Cluster or the Golden Eye Cluster is an open cluster in the southern, equatorial half of Cancer. It was discovered by Johann Gottfried Koehler in 1779. Estimates of its age range between 3.2 and 5 billion years. Distance estimates are likewise varied, but typically are 800–900 parsecs (2,600–2,900 ly). Estimates of 855, 840, and 815 pc were established via binary star modelling and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting.
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