The Lovely Seven Sisters
My image of The Pleiades star cluster, Messier 45. Taken under bortle 3 skies with a Canon EOS Rebel T6 and 70mm-200mm kit lens.
Probably one of the most well known and iconic star clusters in the sky, let me present to you, The Pleiades!
Catalogued as Messier 45, The Pleiades star cluster has found its place in many ancient mythologies and folklore, as well as several pop culture references; there’s even a car manufacturer named after it (bonus points if you know which one)!
Chances are you’ve probably observed M45 before, as it’s one of the easiest and most recognizable clusters you can see without optics. If you need a reference, locate the red giant star, Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus and you should find The Seven Sisters close by!
If finding the constellation Taurus proves to be a bit tricky, don’t fret! Find the constellation Orion (home of the brilliant Orion nebula), star hop in the direction Orion’s “club” is facing and you won’t be far off.
You can get great views of The Pleiades from October to April, with November being regarded as the best month for viewing and imaging.
Pleiades star cluster, just on the outside of the constellation Taurus. Image Credit: Courtesy of Stellarium
Now, this was one of my very first astro images and the start of many great adventures for me. Someday I may even go back and reprocess the data; I’ve learned a lot since I first started out.
You can probably tell immediately that the stars need a slight color correction and the edges of the photo show a bit of star trailing and distortion.
On second thought, I will probably just find an excuse to capture this gorgeous blue star cluster again soon! The wispy reflection nebula surrounding this open cluster is stunning and I never tire of looking at it.
SPOILER ALERT!
The Japanese car manufacturer, Subaru gets its namesake and logo from this star cluster. In fact, as a part of a marketing campaign in 2011, Subaru collaborated with Japanese animation studio, Gainax to produce an animated, four part mini-series titled, “Wish upon the Pleiades”. I had no idea this existed, I’ve never seen it and cannot attest to the content or quality of that production. Interesting nonetheless!
And yes, yes, I know. I was told in school that Wikipedia is not an acceptable academic reference…but it is a good launching off point right?