M45 The Pleiades is also known as the Seven Sisters is an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest to Earth, it is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be leftover material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing.
Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades were probably formed from a compact configuration that resembled the Orion Nebula. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Lum 79 x 600s
Red 38 x 180s
Green 36 x 180s
Blue 36 x 180s
18 Hours 30 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC