About this Object:
The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters (Messier object 45), 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. Pleiades 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 that the stars are currently passing through. 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.

About this Photo:
Location: From my driveway in Georgetown, Texas
Telescope: Orion ED80 @ F7.5
Mount: HEQ-5
Guiding: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider / ST80 Guidescope
Camera: Canon 40D Modified
Exposure: 31 x 300 sec @ ISO 1600 (2 Hrs 35 min.)
Filter: Zhumell Skyglow
Acquisition: ImagesPlus 3.75 Camera Control
Processing: ImagesPlus 3.75 – Darks,Flats,Bias
Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS3; Noise Ninja; Noel Carboni's Tools;
Date(s): November 12, 2009
Temperature(s): 60-50º F