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How many stars can an open cluster contain?
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Star cluster
Centre of star cluster 47 Tucanae (NGC 104), showing the colours of various stars.
Most of the brightest stars are older yellow stars, but a few young blue stars are also visible. This picture is a composite of three images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Open clusters vary significantly in their stellar population. While many known open clusters contain fewer than 100 stars, their total populations generally range from tens to a few thousand stars. Specifically, open clusters are described as containing anywhere from a dozen to many hundreds of stars, with the richest clusters containing 1,000 or more.123