Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Taurus (Tau)  ·  Contains:  Barnard's Merope Nebula  ·  IC 349  ·  IC 353  ·  IC 354  ·  Maia Nebula  ·  Merope Nebula  ·  NGC 1432  ·  NGC 1435  ·  The star 18Tau  ·  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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A Subaru kicking up dust, Paul Kent
A Subaru kicking up dust
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A Subaru kicking up dust

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
A Subaru kicking up dust, Paul Kent
A Subaru kicking up dust
Powered byPixInsight

A Subaru kicking up dust

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Description

M45, or the Pleiades is an open cluster close to Earth. It consists of hot B stars with surface temperatures around 12000K. This gives the stars a brilliant white appearance. The dust that surrounds the stars is not a leftover from star formation as you might expect. It is currently believed that the cluster is simply passing through a dusty part of the milky way. The dust has a blue glow, that results from reflection of photons from the stars. The blue colour arises because blue light scatters more than red. Red light is much less likely to interact than blue and hence we dont see it in red.

This was taken over several nights from my observatory in Spain. The dark skies and deep exposures allow for more of the faint dust to be seen, and this was the main objective for this image

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A Subaru kicking up dust, Paul Kent