Object: Pleiades (M45)
Date: 12/11/04
Location: ASLC DSO Site near Upham, NM
Telescope: TeleVue 85mm refractor (f/5.6) piggyback on a Meade 10" LX200
Guiding: SC modified webcam and GuideDog
Camera: Canon Digital Rebel (300D) @ Prime Focus
Exposure: 20x5 min @ ISO-400
Processing: Raw images converted to 16bit TIFF, calibration, alignment, stacking (min/max excluded average), and digital development performed in ImagesPlus. Final levels and curves (color balance) were adjusted in Photoshop.
Comments: M45 is a beautiful naked-eye open cluster in Taurus.  Named for the seven sisters from Greek mythology, these young stars exhibit some amazing blue reflection nebulosity in this long exposure image.  Note the unusual linear streamers of dust on the right side. The four bright central stars are called: (cw - starting at 3 o'clock) Electra, Merope, Alcyone, and Maia. This is a relatively young group of stars estimated to be at a distance of about 380 light-years and the bright central group is about seven light years across. This cluster is hard to miss if you look to the Eastern sky in the early evening during the fall..

© Dave Dockery 2004