The Pleiades
Messier 45 – The Pleiades. Also known as the “Seven Sisters”, Messier 45 is an open star cluster in Taurus and is among the nearest star clusters to Earth at an estimated distance of 440 light-years. Known since antiquity, the cluster is dominated by stars that are hot and bluish white, indicating that the cluster is relatively young. There is also associated nebulosity, which is easy to photograph but difficult to see visually. This image was captured in October 2017 with a specialist imaging camera attached to an astronomical telescope. It was created from a stack of 120-second exposures taken through different coloured filters giving a total exposure time of 56 minutes. The result was then processed through specialist astronomical imaging software to create the full colour image.
