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  ·  M 45  ·  Maia  ·  Maia Nebula  ·  Merope  ·  Merope Nebula  ·  NGC 1432  ·  NGC 1435  ·  Pleiades  ·  Pleione  ·  Sterope II  ·  And 10 more.
M45 / Pleiades Cluster / Seven Sisters, Jeff Donaldson
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M45 / Pleiades Cluster / Seven Sisters

M45 / Pleiades Cluster / Seven Sisters, Jeff Donaldson
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M45 / Pleiades Cluster / Seven Sisters

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Description

The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, is an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest to Earth, it is the nearest Messier object 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. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be leftover material from the formation of the cluster, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing.

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M45 / Pleiades Cluster / Seven Sisters, Jeff Donaldson