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  ·  HD23156  ·  HD23157  ·  HD23194  ·  HD23246  ·  HD23325  ·  HD23326  ·  HD23351  ·  HD23361  ·  HD23375  ·  HD23387  ·  HD23409  ·  And 48 more.
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M45 - The Pleiades Star Cluster, Drew Evans
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M45 - The Pleiades Star Cluster

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M45 - The Pleiades Star Cluster, Drew Evans
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M45 - The Pleiades Star Cluster

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Description

The Pleiades - one of my favorite celestial sights, and easily seen as a small cloud-like cluster of stars high in the winter night sky. Fun fact: the Subaru (car company) emblem is a cluster of stars. "Subaru" is the Japanese word for Pleiades.

Those aren’t clouds in our atmosphere you are seeing, those are pitch black interstellar clouds of cold gas laced with dust and ash that are illuminated by the nearby stars. This is called reflection nebula. Zoom in for details.

Also known as the "Seven Sisters", M45 is an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky, aligning to the east of Orion's famous belt.

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M45 - The Pleiades Star Cluster, Drew Evans