The Pleiades, M45
The Pleiades star cluster is one of the most famous clusters in the winter sky (constellation of Taurus). It is
also known as the Seven Sisters (from Greek mythology) and M45 in Messier's famous catalog. The
Japanese name for this cluster is "Subaru", which is the source of the name for the car of same name. This
cluster has been intensely studied by astronomers, both modern and ancient, and much information on
both its history and characteristics can be found by "Googling" on its name.
This open cluster is a group of stars with similar origin and velocity through space (i.e., proper motion). It
may contain well over 1000 stars and is about 440 light years away. It's apparent radius of about 8 light
years. As seen in the image below, it is dominated by young, blue stars, up to 14 of which can be seen with
the naked eye under ideal conditions. The blue nebula shown in this image is only seen in long exposure
photographs, although colorless nebulosity can often be seen through fairly small telescopes. The blue
reflection nebula is from dust in a molecular cloud, unrelated to the Pleiades cluster. It just happens to
cross our view of the cluster. It is not thought to be the remainder of the nebula from which the cluster once
formed because the reflection nebula and the Pleiades stars are moving through space at different
velocities.
The subframes for this image were taken with a modified Canon XSi using a TAK 106, f/5 telescope. A total
of 10 x 6 minute subframes were combined digitally to give this image.
also known as the Seven Sisters (from Greek mythology) and M45 in Messier's famous catalog. The
Japanese name for this cluster is "Subaru", which is the source of the name for the car of same name. This
cluster has been intensely studied by astronomers, both modern and ancient, and much information on
both its history and characteristics can be found by "Googling" on its name.
This open cluster is a group of stars with similar origin and velocity through space (i.e., proper motion). It
may contain well over 1000 stars and is about 440 light years away. It's apparent radius of about 8 light
years. As seen in the image below, it is dominated by young, blue stars, up to 14 of which can be seen with
the naked eye under ideal conditions. The blue nebula shown in this image is only seen in long exposure
photographs, although colorless nebulosity can often be seen through fairly small telescopes. The blue
reflection nebula is from dust in a molecular cloud, unrelated to the Pleiades cluster. It just happens to
cross our view of the cluster. It is not thought to be the remainder of the nebula from which the cluster once
formed because the reflection nebula and the Pleiades stars are moving through space at different
velocities.
The subframes for this image were taken with a modified Canon XSi using a TAK 106, f/5 telescope. A total
of 10 x 6 minute subframes were combined digitally to give this image.
| M45, The Plieades (click on image for larger size) |