The Pleiades have been known since antiquity. Also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45, Subaru, and other names by different cultures, it is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot stars. This spectacular cluster and reflection nebula lies in the northwest corner of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth.
Several Pleiads appear surrounded by intricate blue filaments of light. This is the light from the blue-hot stars reflecting on the interstellar gas and dust in the vicinity. This phenomenon is known as a reflection nebula.
This is a standard LRGB image (Luminance, Red, Green, Blue), so it portrays true color.
Image Info
- Imaged from the KPO field in Saint Cloud, Florida.
- Camera : ZWO ASI1600MM Pro
- Lens: Canon 100-400 f/5.6L lens, set to 400mm
- Mount: iOptron SmartEQ Pro
- Red: 6 subframes of 300s = 30 min integration
- Green: 12 subframes of 300s = 60 min integration
- Blue: 11 subframes of 300s = 55 min integration
- Luminance: 11 subframes of 300s = 55 min integration
- Total integration time: 200 min = 3.3 hours.
- Captured via ASIAir Pro automation
- Optical tracking via ASIAir automation, currently using ST4 mount control via the ASI120MM-S guide camera
- Separate channels stacked and LRGB integrated in Astro Pixel Processor
- Image cropped, stretched, and noise processed in Nebulosity.
- Final processing in Aperture