M45 The Pleiades, Klaus Nordahl Petersen

M45 The Pleiades

M45 The Pleiades, Klaus Nordahl Petersen

M45 The Pleiades

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Description

Messier 45 (M45), also known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, is a bright open star cluster located in the constellation Taurus. The Pleiades cluster lies at an average distance of 444 light years from Earth.
M45 contains a number of hot, blue, extremely luminous B-type stars and is one of the nearest star clusters to Earth. It is the easiest object of its kind to see without binoculars. The cluster is home to more than 1,000 confirmed members, but only a handful of these stars are visible to the naked eye. he names of the nine brightest stars in M45 are taken from Greek mythology and they represent the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters – AsteropeElectraMeropeMaiaCelaenoTaygeta, and Alcyone – and their parents, Pleione and Atlas.

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M45 The Pleiades, Klaus Nordahl Petersen