Wide-field view of the sky around the bright star cluster NGC 3532

This wide-field view of the sky around the cluster NGC 3532 was created from photographic material forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The cluster itself is at the centre of the picture and the bright star to its lower left is x Carinae — a very brilliant yellow hypergiant star that is about five times further from Earth than the cluster itself. This star is one of the most distant that can be seen with the naked eye.