The Pleiades (M45) is an open star cluster and corresponding reflection nebulae in the constellation Taurus. It is the first astronomical object I recall in my memory: I remember looking at it through a small courtyard from our first floor home when I was a child---it sparked my fascination with science and astronomy and getting to know the night sky, as well as the associated mythologies different human cultures have created around these objects. The Pleiades was the easiest object to remember, not only due to its brightness but also its distinctive twinkle and the challenge of distinguishing the stars within it.

The nine brightest stars in the Pleiades cluster are named after the Seven Sisters in Greek mythology, along with their parents: Alcyone, Atlas (father), Electra, Maia, Merope, Taygeta, Pleione (mother), Celaeno, and Sterope/Asterope. The cluster however contains more than one thousand confirmed members, fourteen of which can apparently be distinguished by the naked eye. Unlike the typical emission nebula I image, all the light is due to reflection of blue light from the hot young stars on the dust in the interstellar medium - there is no ionising radiation and therefore it is not a narrowband composition but reflects largely what the sensor has captured. The Maia and Merope nebulae (NGC1432 and NGC1435) are the major ones in this star cluster.

The dust responsible for the nebulosity is not uniformly distributed, and is concentrated in two layers. These layers may have been formed by deceleration due to radiation pressure as the dust has moved towards the stars, making them appear as though waves of hair are flowing the stars and giving us a sight to behold through powerful telescopes or ordinary imaging equipment. If you look closely you can see the waviness of the dust lanes observable to the very edges of the blue nebulae.

The 110 million year old cluster is about eight light years across and about 136 parsecs away, making it one of the nearest star clusters to us. It is expected to disperse within the next 250 million years.