The Pleiades

M45

Image copyright: Andre Potgieter

The Pleiades is one of the most famous open clusters in our skies. Visible from anywhere on Earth to the naked eye, almost all cultures on Earth have incorporated it into their mythology and folklore. It’s appearance was widely used to mark the beginning of a season, for agricultural and navigational purposes and it has famously been used as a test for vision: Most people with good eyes should be able to make out at least six stars, although some can see eight or more without using binoculars or a telescope!
This is a particularly young cluster, at under 150 million years, so a lot of the dust and gas from which it formed is still present, and can be seen reflecting the light of the stars in this image. It is approximately 444 light years away and contains over a thousand stars (not counting individual members of binary pairs). The majority of these stars are hot and blue, although it also contains a significant number of brown dwarfs.

Imaging telescopes: SkyWatcher ED80, William Optics 80mm Apo ,Imaging cameras: Nikon D7000, Canon 1100D (T3) Modded (Baader UV/IR Cut)
Software: APT , Startools 1.3.5.289
Frames: 133x360" ISO800 22C bin 1x1
Integration: 13.3 hours
Darks: ~35
Flats: ~27
Bias: ~50