Open star cluster M35 is consisted of several hundred stars scattered over the area covered by the full Moon (30'). At its distance of 2,700 or 2,800 light years, this corresponds to a linear diameter of about 24 light years; its central density is about 6.21 stars per cubic parsec. Some authors have estimated a larger diameter of up to 46' (H. Shapley in 1930). With about 100 million years, it is of intermediate age, and contains some post-main sequence stars (including several yellow and orange giants of spectral type late G to early K). It is approaching us at 5 km/sec.
The discovery of M35 is usually assigned to Philippe Loys de Chéseaux who observed and cataloged it in 1745 or 1746. It is also printed in John Bevis' Uranographia Britannica which was completed in 1750, so that this astronomer must have discovered it independently before this time, maybe or maybe not before De Chéseaux. Charles Messier, who cataloged it on August 30, 1764, acknowledges Bevis' discovery.
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