mrstella1971
M45 Pleiades
The Pleiades star cluster is hands down my favorite object in the nighttime sky. Known by many names and by every civilization to ever inhabit our planet, Messier 45 ("The Seven Sisters", "Subaru", "The Hen with her Chicks"), is easily visible to the unaided eye, even from moderately light-polluted skies. Each of the bright stars is named for mythological characters Atlas, Pleione, and their 7 daughters, Alcyone, Merope, Sterope, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Electra. Not only do these characters feature prominently in Greek mythology, the star cluster itself does as well: In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus uses the cluster as a navigational beacon. The cluster is mentioned 3 times in the Bible and is illustrated in a prehistoric cave painting at Lascaux. It's also the corporate logo for carmaker Subaru.
It contains at least 1,000 stars, but only 5 to 10 are bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye, and these are the ones that people are referring to when they say "The Pleiades". Each of these giant stars is far brighter than our Sun. If you were to observe the Sun from the same distance, you would need binoculars or a telescope to see it at all!
It is estimated to be 444 light-years away and it's diameter is 15 light-years. The stars are surrounded by interstellar dust and gas. This material would ordinarily be invisible to us, but it’s illuminated by the stars in what’s known as a reflection nebula. The nebula is blue, caused by a light scattering effect not unlike the one that colors Earth’s sky blue. Its wavy appearance comes from interactions between the nebula and the stars’ magnetic fields.
The myth of the Pleiades cluster and the constellation Orion is that the Hunter is enamored with the beauty of the young maidens and he is greedily pursuing them across the sky each night. Indeed that is the easiest way to spot the Pleiades. Find Orion and scan over in the direction he's facing and you'll find them within Taurus the Bull.
EQ6R Pro mount, 2600MC, W/O Z61, ASIAIR Pro, ZWO EAF, 62 x 300 second exposures at -10c processed with Pixinsight
M45 Pleiades
The Pleiades star cluster is hands down my favorite object in the nighttime sky. Known by many names and by every civilization to ever inhabit our planet, Messier 45 ("The Seven Sisters", "Subaru", "The Hen with her Chicks"), is easily visible to the unaided eye, even from moderately light-polluted skies. Each of the bright stars is named for mythological characters Atlas, Pleione, and their 7 daughters, Alcyone, Merope, Sterope, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Electra. Not only do these characters feature prominently in Greek mythology, the star cluster itself does as well: In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus uses the cluster as a navigational beacon. The cluster is mentioned 3 times in the Bible and is illustrated in a prehistoric cave painting at Lascaux. It's also the corporate logo for carmaker Subaru.
It contains at least 1,000 stars, but only 5 to 10 are bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye, and these are the ones that people are referring to when they say "The Pleiades". Each of these giant stars is far brighter than our Sun. If you were to observe the Sun from the same distance, you would need binoculars or a telescope to see it at all!
It is estimated to be 444 light-years away and it's diameter is 15 light-years. The stars are surrounded by interstellar dust and gas. This material would ordinarily be invisible to us, but it’s illuminated by the stars in what’s known as a reflection nebula. The nebula is blue, caused by a light scattering effect not unlike the one that colors Earth’s sky blue. Its wavy appearance comes from interactions between the nebula and the stars’ magnetic fields.
The myth of the Pleiades cluster and the constellation Orion is that the Hunter is enamored with the beauty of the young maidens and he is greedily pursuing them across the sky each night. Indeed that is the easiest way to spot the Pleiades. Find Orion and scan over in the direction he's facing and you'll find them within Taurus the Bull.
EQ6R Pro mount, 2600MC, W/O Z61, ASIAIR Pro, ZWO EAF, 62 x 300 second exposures at -10c processed with Pixinsight