Messier 35, also known as NGC 2168 or the Shoe-Buckle Cluster, is a relatively close open cluster of stars in the west of the constellation Gemini. It is scattered over part of the sky almost the size of the full moon and is 2,970 light-years away. The compact open cluster NGC 2158 lies directly southwest of it. The cluster is relatively young with an age of about 100 million years and is estimated to include about 400 stars with a total mass of 1,600 M☉.
NGC 2158 is an open cluster in the constellation of Gemini. It lies immediately southwest of open cluster Messier 35, and is believed to be about 2 billion years old. The two clusters are unrelated, as NGC 2158 is around 9,000 light years further away. Once thought to be a globular cluster, it is now known to be an intermediate-age, metal-poor open cluster that is a member of the old Milky Way thin disk population.
