The Pleiades star cluster in the constellation of Taurus, is also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45).
The cluster contains hundreds of stars, of which only a handful are commonly visible to the unaided eye.
The stars in the Pleiades are thought to have formed together around 100 million years ago, making them 1/50th the age of our sun, and they lie some 425 light years away.
The larger named stars are as follows:
Equipment:
- Vixen AX103S 103mm f/8.0 ED Apochromatic Refractor telescope.
- Avalon Linear Fast Reverse Mount.
- QSI 683 CCD camera, Kodak KAF-8300 8.3 mega-pixel sensor cooled to -25 °C.
- Astronomik L-RGB, Astrodon 5nm Ha and Astrodon 3nm Oiii filters.
Image exposure (8 hours in total):
- 24 x 300sec luminance.
- 24 x 300sec red.
- 24 x 300sec green.
- 24 x 300sec blue.
