gjdonatiello
Messier 45
Messier 45
Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello
Mix Data
RA 3h 47m Dec +24° 07′
The Pleiades or Seven Sisters (Messier 45 or M45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
The distance to the Pleiades can be used as an important first step to calibrate the cosmic distance ladder.
More recent results using the Gaia satellite (September 2016), determine distances of 134 ±6 pc.
Dust that forms a faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster, but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium, through which the stars are currently passing.
Messier 45
Messier 45
Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello
Mix Data
RA 3h 47m Dec +24° 07′
The Pleiades or Seven Sisters (Messier 45 or M45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
The distance to the Pleiades can be used as an important first step to calibrate the cosmic distance ladder.
More recent results using the Gaia satellite (September 2016), determine distances of 134 ±6 pc.
Dust that forms a faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster, but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium, through which the stars are currently passing.