M45 - The Pleiades
Sat Oct 26 2024
The Pleiades, also called the Seven Sisters, are my obligatory annual portrait of this cluster. On clear autumn and winter nights my eyes are always drawn straight to them, a little knot of blue stars that looks like a tiny question mark made of diamonds. They sit about 440 light-years away, and the soft blue haze around the brightest stars is starlight scattering off a cloud of interstellar dust the cluster happens to be drifting through.
About this object
- Type
- Open Cluster
- Constellation
- Taurus (the Bull)
- Distance
- ~444 light-years
- Also known as
- Seven Sisters, Pleiades
- Catalogue designations
- M 45
Acquisition
- Antlia V-Pro Red 36 mm: 514 × 30s (4h 17m)
- Antlia V-Pro Green 36 mm: 410 × 30s (3h 25m)
- Antlia V-Pro Blue 36 mm: 534 × 30s (4h 27m)
- Total integration: 12h 9m
Equipment
- Telescope / Lens: Astro-Tech AT72EDII
- Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
- Mount: Celestron CGEM II
- Filters: Antlia V-Pro Blue 36 mm, Antlia V-Pro Green 36 mm, Antlia V-Pro Red 36 mm
- Guiding scope: ZWO 30mm Mini Guider Scope
- Guiding camera: ZWO ASI224MC
- Accessories: Astro-Tech .8X Reducer for F6 (ATR8), ZWO EFW 7 x 36mm
- Software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight
Astrophotography by David Joyce, AstroDavido.