M45

This is the famous Pleiades star cluster or 'Seven Sisters' in Taurus, a young open cluster only about 100 million years old. While containing about 500 stars, only about 7 can be seen with naked eye, thus giving the cluster its famous name. The cluster lies at a distance of 440 light years from Earth and is embedded in a dusty reflection nebula which is apparently unrelated to its formation. One of the modern mysteries of Astronomy is that white dwarfs have been found in M45 and according to present ideas of stellar evolution, should not exist in a cluster of so young an age. Recent observations have also found several brown dwarfs.

Image taken October 27, 2008, with the 135mm Nikkor lens at F:2.8 mounted on the 402 camera. Exposure is 10 minutes through each if the three color filters.   Compare with the image below taken with the 300 lens.

Taken November 6, 2012, with the ST-8 camera and 300mm Nikkor lens. Exposure is 40 seconds. Post processing done with Adobe Photoshop.