M45

The Pleides (Plee-ah-dees), aka: The Seven Sisters or Subaru (yes, the car manufacture).

Located in the constellation of Taurus, it is one of the best know naked eye, night sky objects. The Pleides are a grouping of hot Blue stars believed to have formed within the last 100 million years. The nebulosity surrounding the brightest stars is not related to their formation, it is caused by a dust cloud that they just happen to be passing through at this time.

They have been around awhile; Homer refers to them in his epic poem "The Odyssey" (approx. 720 B.C.). The tale of Ulysses' wanderings after the battle and siege of Troy.

Better get a good look at them now, as estimates are, that in ~250 million years they will not form the same shape due to their individual motion through space.


Image acquired: 2007.10.05
Birmingham, Ohio USA
Canon 30D
Canon 70-200mm @ 200mm, F/3.2, ISO 800
Processed with ImagesPlus 2.80A