Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Taurus (Tau)  ·  Contains:  11 Tau  ·  16 Tau  ·  17 Tau  ·  18 Tau  ·  19 q Tau  ·  20 Tau  ·  21 Tau  ·  22 Tau  ·  23 Tau  ·  24 Tau  ·  25 eta Tau  ·  26 Tau  ·  27 Tau  ·  28 Tau  ·  32 Tau  ·  33 Tau  ·  9 Tau  ·  Alcyone  ·  Atlas  ·  Barnard's Merope Nebula  ·  Celaeno  ·  Electra  ·  IC 341  ·  IC 349  ·  IC 353  ·  IC 354  ·  M 45  ·  Maia  ·  Maia Nebula  ·  Merope  ·  And 16 more.
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The Pleiades Star Cluster (Messier 45) and the interstellar dust., Prabhakaran
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The Pleiades Star Cluster (Messier 45) and the interstellar dust.

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Pleiades Star Cluster (Messier 45) and the interstellar dust., Prabhakaran
Powered byPixInsight

The Pleiades Star Cluster (Messier 45) and the interstellar dust.

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The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters, is an open star cluster containing middle-aged stars in the constellation Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. The bluish light surrounding the stars in this image is an example of a reflection nebula. Like fog around a street lamp, a reflection nebula shines only because the dust within it scatters light from a nearby bright source. The Pleiades cluster is currently passing through an interstellar cloud that contains dust grains, which scatter the light from the hot blue stars in the cluster. The Pleiades cluster is about 400 light-years from the Sun.

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The Pleiades Star Cluster (Messier 45) and the interstellar dust., Prabhakaran