Messier 45 (Taurus)
Fig. 1 - Probably the most famous star cluster in the sky: Messier 45 in Taurus, photographed with a Teleskop-Service (TS) 65mm Quadruplet Astrograph on a ZWO AM5 mount.
| Object name: | Constellation: | Coordinates: | Apparent size: | Visual brightness: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Messier 45 | Taurus | 03h47m / +24°07' | 2° | 1.6 mag |
The open cluster Messier 45 ("The Pleiades", "Seven Sisters") in the constellation Taurus. The cluster contains more than 1,000 statistically confirmed members. Its light is dominated by young, hot blue stars, up to 14 of which may be seen with the naked eye, depending on local observing conditions and visual acuity of the observer. The brightest stars form a shape somewhat similar to that of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. At a distance of about 444 light-years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and the nearest Messier object to Earth, being the most obvious star cluster to the naked eye in the night sky (source: Wikipedia).
Seventy-two 3-minute exposures (216 minutes total exposure) at gain 100 and -10°C, taken on December 30, 2024, were added for this shot with Astro Pixel Processor (APP) software and the final image processing was done in Photoshop. Darks, flats, bias and darkflats were used.
Equipment: Cooled ASI 2600MC Pro camera, Teleskop-Service (TS) 65mm f/6.5 Quadruplet Astrograph riding on a ZWO AM5 Strain Wave Mount, ZWO 30 mm Mini Guide Scope with an ASI 290MM Mini guide camera, ASIAIR Plus.
Fig. 2 - Search chart for Messier 45. Copyright 2025 'The Mag-7 Star Atlas Project', www.siaris.net.
Fig. 3 - Labeled version of the Plejades with the seven brightest stars ('The Seven Sisters')