Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Taurus (Tau)  ·  Contains:  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  ·  Alcyone  ·  Asterope  ·  Atlas  ·  Barnard's Merope Nebula  ·  Celaeno  ·  Electra  ·  IC 349  ·  LBN 770  ·  LBN 771  ·  LBN 772  ·  LBN 776  ·  Maia  ·  Maia Nebula  ·  Merope  ·  Merope Nebula  ·  NGC 1432  ·  NGC 1435  ·  And 13 more.
Messier 45 - The Pleiades, Diego Cartes
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Messier 45 - The Pleiades

Messier 45 - The Pleiades, Diego Cartes
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Messier 45 - The Pleiades

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Description

The Pleiades, also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45, and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth. It is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the most obvious cluster 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. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing.[9] This dust cloud is estimated to be moving at a speed of approximately 18 km/s relative to the stars in the cluster. (Wikipedia).

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The last time i captured this object, it was at December 28th, 2006, and posted it here. A lot has happened since that time, and i didn't wanted to recapture this cluster, because my previous attempt was made from the clear skies of the Atacama Desert. This year i decided to give it a try, from a nearby dark site. I know my camera (Zwo Asi 1600) has some issues with very bright stars, mainly halos and microlensing, but still i think it is a satisfactory result.  But I still don't know what caused that "spikes" in the brightest stars.

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Revisions

  • Messier 45 - The Pleiades, Diego Cartes
    Original
  • Messier 45 - The Pleiades, Diego Cartes
    B
  • Messier 45 - The Pleiades, Diego Cartes
    C
  • Messier 45 - The Pleiades, Diego Cartes
    D
  • Final
    Messier 45 - The Pleiades, Diego Cartes
    E

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Messier 45 - The Pleiades, Diego Cartes