Deep Sky Astrophotography

Seven Sisters, also known as Pleiades

You want to see one of the most famous clusters of stars, visible to naked eyes? Then you should have a glimpse to the Seven Sisters, also known Pleiades.

Nearly any of the past civilizations was intrigued by this formation of stars, from the Celts in Europe to New Zealand’s Maoris and Australia’s Aborigines, from the Native North Americans to South America’s Maya or Aztec. And did you ever have a close look to the logo of the Japanese car manufacturer Subaru? Now guess how the Pleiades are called in Japan: Subaru ;)

The name Pleiades is going back to Greek Mythology, where the titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione had seven daughters – plus many more kids. Must have been quite busy at breakfast-time ;) Accordingly, the Pleiades are referred to as daughters of Pleione.

Galileo Galilei sketched them already in 1610 and Charles Messier included the cluster 1771 at position 45 in this catalogue, hence the name “Messier 45”.

With “only” 440 light years distance to Earth, the Seven Sisters are the star cluster closest to us. They can be seen best on the Northern Hemisphere in the winter months. The bright stars of the cluster send their light to us through vast areas of reflection nebulae, whose blue glow add to the beautiful appearance. In fairly dark skies the Seven Sisters can be spotted with the naked eyes quite easily in the Taurus constellation.

The image was taken in a Bortle 5 area. The overall exposure time was 5 hours, shot with a Newtonian Telescope of 430 mm focal length.

PleiadesSeven SistersMessier 45Reflection NebulaReflection NebulaeMaiaElectraTaygeteAlcyoneCelaenoSteropeMeropeAtlasPleioneConstellationTaurus