To the average person, the Pleiades Star Cluster appears as a tight knot of 6 or 7 stars. This star cluster is often called the "Seven Sisters." The nine brightest members form a pattern that resembles a dipper, and for that reason, it is sometimes mistaken by beginners as the little dipper. It is an excellent object to view with binoculars. The Pleiades star cluster is one of the closest open star clusters to us, having a distance of about 440 light years. The nine brightest members are all B-type giants concentrated in a region about 7 light years in diameter. The brightest star is Eta Tauri, also named Alcyone, and is nearly 1000 times more luminous than the Sun. The galactic star cluster has a total membership of at least 250 members. This photo shows a portion of the faint nebulous haze swirling around some of the stars. The spectrum of the nebulosity is identical to the spectra of the involved stars. The nebulous gasses apparently shine by star light reflected from dust and perhaps larger solid particles. The nebulosity was recorded in photographs taken in 1885.
M45 was added to the Messier catalog as the last object on the list when it was first published in 1769. It is one of only three objects on the Messier list that does not have an NGC number. Of all of the objects on the Messier list, it is the closest to us.
This photo was taken on October 16, 1998. A Takahashi Epsilon 250 telescope was used to take the photo, with an Olympus OM-1 camera. The film used was Kodak Ektapress multispeed 640 color negative film, also called PJM film. This is a 25 minute exposure that was guided with an ST-4 autoguider attached to a separate 78mm guidescope.
M45
Constellation: Taurus
RA:03h 46m 56.6s Dec:+24d 06' 42"
October 16, 1998
Photo by Sid Leach
Iola, Texas.
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