NGC 2362 is an open cluster

Open cluster

An open cluster is a group of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way Galaxy, and many more are thought to exist...

 in the constellation

Constellation

In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....

 Canis Major

Canis Major

Canis Major is one of the 88 modern constellations, and was included in the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy's 48 constellations. Its name is Latin for 'greater dog', and is commonly represented as one of the dogs following Orion the hunter...

. It was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654. Its brightest star is Tau Canis Majoris

Tau Canis Majoris

Tau Canis Majoris is an eclipsing spectroscopic binary in the constellation Canis Major and the brightest star of an open cluster designated NGC 2362...

, and therefore it is sometimes called the Tau Canis Majoris Cluster. NGC 2362 has a distance of 1.48 kpc and is a relatively young 4–5 million years in age. It is a massive open cluster, with more than 500 solar mass

Solar mass

The solar mass , , is a standard unit of mass in astronomy, used to indicate the masses of other stars and galaxies...

es. The cluster is in relation with the giant nebula

Nebula

A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas, helium gas and other ionized gases...

 Sh2-310, that lies at the same distance.