| The Pleiades Star Cluster (M45) lies nearly 400 LY from Earth in the constellation of Taurus. At an estimated age of 100 million years, it is an older cluster whose stars will disperse in the next 300 million years. A reflection nebula by nature, the gas and dust visible in this image shines by the reflected light of the bright stars in the vicinity. This gas is not the cloud from which these stars originally formed, but an unrelated gas cloud through which the cluster is passing. The Pleiades contains an estimated 500 stars. Known as the Seven Sisters to the Greeks, the brightest seven stars in the cluster were used by some cultures as a test of eyesight. |
| Date: | October 29, 2006 |
| Optics: | Orion 80mm Apo Refractor - Baader IR Filter |
| Camera: | Canon Digital Rebel 300D / Modified (Hap Griffin) |
| Exposure: | 95 Minutes / 19x300s @ 800ASA |
| Guiding: | Manually guided on a 14" Meade LX200 |
| Location: | Skyhawk Observatory, West Bend, WI |
| Photo By: | Rick Kazmierski |
