https://www.sciencedowneast.com/zenphoto Sat, 08 Aug 2026 05:29:48 -0300 Sat, 08 Aug 2026 05:29:48 -0300 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Zenphoto RSS Generator https://www.sciencedowneast.com/zenphoto/index.php?album=Clusters/M45-The-Pleiades&image=M45_ATR2600C_28x10min.jpg Click on the image to view it at full resolution, then click again for actual size.

The Pleiades (M45), also called the Seven Sisters, is a bright open star cluster in the constellation Taurus, easily visible to the naked eye and known since antiquity. Modern Gaia-based parallax measurements place it at a distance of about 444 light-years, and its stars are young, roughly 100 million years old. The cluster's brightest members are hot, blue B-type stars that happen to be passing through an unrelated cloud of interstellar dust, whose light they scatter to produce the delicate blue reflection nebulosity draped around the stars in long-exposure images. Because its stars are so bright, imaging the Pleiades well requires care to manage glare and diffraction spikes while still bringing out the faint, wispy blue nebulosity surrounding them.

[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades]

Moon Phase	First Quarter
Camera	ToupTek ATR2600C
Optics	Skywatcher Esprit 120ED, 840 mm focal length, f/7 (120 mm aperture, APO triplet)
Date	2024-12-07
PixInsight Processing	GraXpert (gradient removal) Spectrophotometric Color Calibration PixelMath Rotation

Date: July 28, 2026 ]]> https://www.sciencedowneast.com/zenphoto/index.php?album=Clusters/M45-The-Pleiades&image=M45_ATR2600C_28x10min.jpg Sat, 07 Dec 2024 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.sciencedowneast.com/zenphoto/index.php?album=Clusters/M45-The-Pleiades&image=masterLight_BIN-1_1080x1920_EXPOSURE-10.00s_FILTER-IRCUT_RGB_drizzle_2x_a.jpg Click on the image to view it at full resolution, then click again for actual size.

The Pleiades (M45), also called the Seven Sisters, is a bright open star cluster in the constellation Taurus, easily visible to the naked eye and known since antiquity. Modern Gaia-based parallax measurements place it at a distance of about 444 light-years, and its stars are young, roughly 100 million years old. The cluster's brightest members are hot, blue B-type stars that happen to be passing through an unrelated cloud of interstellar dust, whose light they scatter to produce the delicate blue reflection nebulosity draped around the stars in long-exposure images. Because its stars are so bright, imaging the Pleiades well requires care to manage glare and diffraction spikes while still bringing out the faint, wispy blue nebulosity surrounding them.

[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades]

Total image time was 3 minutes.

Moon Phase	Full Moon
Camera	Seestar S30
Optics	150 mm focal length, f/5, 30 mm aperture (APO triplet)
Filter	IRCUT
Binning	1x1
Date	2025-12-06
PixInsight Processing	Image Integration (x2) Drizzle Integration BlurXTerminator (AI deconvolution) GraXpert (gradient removal) NoiseXTerminator (AI denoise) StarXTerminator (star removal) Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch (x4) PixelMath Curves Transformation

Date: July 28, 2026 ]]> https://www.sciencedowneast.com/zenphoto/index.php?album=Clusters/M45-The-Pleiades&image=masterLight_BIN-1_1080x1920_EXPOSURE-10.00s_FILTER-IRCUT_RGB_drizzle_2x_a.jpg Sat, 06 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0400