Messier 45 - The Pleiades Star Cluster
Date: Dec 26, 2019
Cosgrove’s Cosmos Catalog ➤#0017
Messier 45 - The Pleiades Star Cluster in the constellation of Taurus (click to enlarge)
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About the Target
Messier 45, better known as the Pleides Star cluster or the Seven Sisters, is a large star group easily seen with the naked eye in the constellation Taurus - the Bull.
Here is what Wikipedia has to say about M45:
The Pleiades (/ˈpliː.əˌdiːz, ˈpleɪ-, ˈplaɪ-/), also known as The Seven Sisters and Messier 45, is an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest to Earth, it is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be leftover material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing.
Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades were 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.
Together with the open star cluster of the Hyades, the Pleiades from the Golden Gate of the Ecliptic.
About the Project
Wow, Rochester weather in the late fall really sucks. It has been almost 9 weeks since I have had a clear night! Finally, we had a nice clear sky last evening, and the temperature was not too brutal - about 37 degrees F. My first shot of the night was M45, the Pleiades star cluster. Also known as the Seven Sisters, this open cluster is visible to the naked eye in the constellation Taurus. The framing is a bit tight here for my scope focal length, but I was just able to fit them into the field of view. These are a grouping of middle-aged blue stars, and on longer exposures, you can see local dust clouds illuminated by these blue stars. This was the result of 20 three-minute exposures.
The Annotated Image
An annotated image of M45 was created by using Pixinsight’s ImageSolver and AnnotateImage Scripts.
The Location in the Sky
IAU/Sky & Telescope Constellation Map of Taurus - with M45 marked by the yellow arrow.
More Information
Wikipedia: The Pleiades
The Live Sky: Messier 45
Constellation Guide: Messier 45
Capture Details
Light frames
20 x 180 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, unity gain
Total of 60 minutes.
Cal Frames
Not recorded
Capture Hardware
Scope: Astrophysics 130mm Starfire F/8.35 APO Scope: William Optics 132mm f/7.0 FLT APO
Guide Scope: Sharpstar 61EDPHII
Camera: ZWO ASI1600mm-pro with ZWO Filter wheel with ZWO LRGB filter set,
and Astronomiks 6nm Narrowband filter set
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290Mini
Focus Motor: Pegasus Astro Focus Cube 2
Camera Rotator: Pegasus Astro Falcon
Mount: Ioptron CEM60
Polar Alignment: Polemaster camera
Software
Capture Software: PHD2 Guider, Sequence Generator Pro controller
Image Processing: Deepsky Stacker, Pixinsight, Photoshop - assisted by Coffee, extensive processing indecision and second-guessing, editor regret and much swearing….
During August and September I was out shooting every clear night. I had learned a lot of things but I was also noticing several issues that were causing me problems as I did more imaging. I decided to do something to address those issues….