Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Taurus (Tau)  ·  Contains:  Barnard's Merope Nebula  ·  IC 349  ·  Maia Nebula  ·  Merope Nebula  ·  NGC 1432  ·  NGC 1435  ·  The star Atlas (27Tau)  ·  The star Celaeno (16Tau)  ·  The star Electra (17Tau)  ·  The star Merope (23Tau)  ·  The star Pleione (28Tau)  ·  The star Sterope I (21Tau)  ·  The star Taygeta (19Tau)  ·  The star ηTau
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M45 - The Pleiades, Chris Barr
M45 - The Pleiades
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M45 - The Pleiades

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M45 - The Pleiades, Chris Barr
M45 - The Pleiades
Powered byPixInsight

M45 - The Pleiades

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The nearest Messier object to Earth (avg. 444 ly), The Pleiades is an open cluster of young, hot, blue stars which are drifting through a nearby interstellar dust cloud.  This confluence creates what is known as a reflection nebula, so named as the dust cloud reflects the bright blue light from the drifting stars.  This opposed to an emission nebula where a gas and dust cloud has condensed to the point where hydrogen has begun to emit photons of its own.  Of note is the faint spiral galaxy UGC2838 to the right of the star Electra.  This galaxy is roughly 300 million light years away.

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M45 - The Pleiades, Chris Barr