Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Taurus (Tau)  ·  Contains:  14.38  ·  16 Tau  ·  17 Tau  ·  18 Tau  ·  19 Tau)  ·  19 q Tau  ·  20 Tau  ·  21 Tau  ·  22 Tau  ·  23 Tau  ·  24 Tau  ·  25 Tau)  ·  25 eta Tau  ·  26 Tau  ·  27 Tau  ·  28 Tau  ·  99 Dike  ·  Alcyone  ·  Atlas  ·  Barnard's Merope Nebula  ·  Celaeno  ·  Electra  ·  HD23061  ·  HD23156  ·  HD23157  ·  HD23158  ·  HD23171  ·  HD23194  ·  HD23246  ·  HD23247  ·  And 127 more.
M45, Paul Porto
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M45

M45, Paul Porto
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M45

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Description

From Bortle 1 skies in Kodachrome State Park, Utah!  M45, also known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, is an open star cluster located in the constellation Taurus. Here are some interesting facts about M45:
  • M45 is one of the nearest star clusters to Earth, located about 440 light-years away.
  • The cluster is made up of several hundred stars, but only a handful are visible to the naked eye.
  • The bright stars in M45 are hot, young stars that were formed from the same cloud of gas and dust.
  • The cluster is estimated to be around 100 million years old, making it relatively young compared to other star clusters.
  • M45 has been a prominent object in many cultures throughout history and has been referenced in ancient Greek and Roman mythology.
  • The cluster is often used as a test of visual acuity, as it is easily visible to the naked eye and can be used to gauge the quality of a telescope's optics.
  • M45 is surrounded by a faint blue haze of interstellar dust and gas, which is illuminated by the light of the stars in the cluster.
  • The cluster is moving through space at a high velocity and is expected to collide with a nearby molecular cloud in the next few million years, which may trigger the formation of new stars.

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M45, Paul Porto

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