M45, also known as the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters, is a famous open cluster in the constellation of Taurus. It is one of the closest clusters to Earth and one of the easiest to see with the naked eye, although it contains hundreds of stars. The brightest stars in the cluster are very young blue hot stars, estimated to be around 100 million years old, relatively young in astronomical terms.
The Pleiades are important in many cultures and mythologies around the world. In Greek mythology, the Pleiades were the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione who turned into stars to escape the pursuit of the hunter Orion. In Japan, the cluster is known as Subaru and has been used as a symbol in various cultural forms, including the car company..
In astronomy, the Pleiades have been the subject of much research. The cluster is thought to have passed through a cloud of interstellar dust, which now appears as a faint nebula around the brightest stars, visible in long-exposure photographs. This nebulosity is of interest to astronomers because it provides clues to star formation and cluster evolution.
Although the Pleiades are often referred to as the 'Seven Sisters', only six stars are usually visible to the naked eye. The seventh, according to legend, has 'hidden' or disappeared. This has given rise to many stories and myths over the centuries.

I"I took this image from my personal observatory, which I built in my back garden. For this image I used my Skywatcher Esprit 80mm telescope mounted on a fixed mount with a concrete base. The camera used is the ASI294mm Pro, along with a set of ZWO RGB filters. Each filter had an integration time of about 2.5 hours. I am not quite sure about the quality of the post-processing done with PixInsight; I tried to get the best out of it, but I am aware that I still have a lot to learn. I hope you like the photo and I would be grateful for comments with constructive criticism: where can I improve? What doesn't work in this photo? What do you like and what don't you like? I tried to keep the background neutral, without clipping, and not to oversaturate the colours of the nebula. The stars, which are very bright, are the most difficult part; to bring out the nebulosity I made exposures of 180 seconds per channel. I look forward to your comments and suggestions, as I said, criticism is always welcome.