M-37 (NGC-2099) is the brightest and richest open star cluster in the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer.
It was discovered by Giovanni Hodierna in 1654. Charles Messier independently re-discovered M-37 in September of 1764 and added it to his catalog as number 37. M-37 is 4500 light years from Earth and is 26 light years in diameter. It contains over 500 stars, of which 150 are brighter than 12.5 magnitude.
This image, acquired on December 27, 2013, is a 20 minute integration of 4 minute exposures through the Celestron C-11 at f/2, using the HyperStar III imaging system and the Starlight Express SXVR-H694C color CCD camera operating at -10 degrees below ambient temperature and binned 1 X 1. Guided, captured and combined using Maxim DL5 Pro. Post processed using PhotoShop CS2, Gradient XTerminator, StarShrink, Carboni's Astro Tools and NoiseWare.