Facts
In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters (Messier object 45 or M45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. The celestial entity has several meanings in different cultures and traditions.
The cluster is dominated by hot blue and extremely luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Dust that forms a faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster (hence the alternate name Maia Nebula after the star Maia), but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium, through which the stars are currently passing. Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades was 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.
Object: M45 The Pleiades
Date: 06.12.2015
Location: Backyard, Asker, NO
Camera: SBIG-STT-8300 MONO CCD
Optics: Takahashi FSQ-106EDX III (w/reducer) 385mm f/3.6
Exposure: L=9x200sec (bin 2×2), RGB=10x150sec(bin3x3)
Filter: Astrodon LRGB
Calibration: Darks, Bias
Guiding: MaxIm DL, SBIG Selfguiding FW Processing: MaximDL, PixInsight, Photoshop
Object: M45 The Pleiades
Date: 09.04.2013
Location: Sollihøgda, Bærum, NO
Camera: DSLR Canon EOS 7D
Optics: Canon 300mm f3,5
Exposure: 11 x 2 min lightframes
no darkframes
Bias
Flats
ISO: 640
Guiding: PHD Guiding
Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Post processing: DSS, Photoshop CS5
Object: M45 The Pleiades detail (Maia)
Date: 19.11.2012
Location: Backyard, Asker, NO
Camera: DSLR Canon EOS 7D
Optics: Celestron SCT 8″ 2000mm f10
Exposure: 7 x 5 min lightframes
no darkframes
Bias
Flats
ISO: 1600
Guiding: Celestron NexGuide
Post processing: MaxIm DL, PhotoShop CS5
Håvard's Observatory 