M45 - The Pleiades, David N Kidd

M45 - The Pleiades

M45 - The Pleiades, David N Kidd

M45 - The Pleiades

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Description

The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters (Messier 45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth (approx 450ly) and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.

The cluster is dominated by hot blue and extremely luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Dust that forms a faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster (hence the alternate name MaiaNebula after the star Maia), but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium that the stars are currently passing through.

[Taken from Wikipedia]

This image comprises 17 x Blue @180"; 17 x Red & Green & Luminance @ 120"; 19 x Luminance @ 60". Taken through a TS 50mm APO Doublet with .8 Focal Reducer onto an Atik 314L+ with Quantum Electronic Filterwheel; guided by WO ZS80mm II ED APO with QHY5 and PHD.

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