| Designation |
Messier 45 "The Pleiades" (Mel 22)
|
| Type | Open Star Cluster with reflection nebula |
| Constellation | Taurus "The Bull" |
| Coordinates | Telescope centered at RA '03 48 19' Dec '+24 00 04' |
| Magnitude | 1.2 |
| Size | 7 Light Years across (40 LY for faint extended members) |
| Distance | 410 light years from Earth |
| Dimensions | 110 x 110 arcminutes |
| Image Field | 197 x 197 arcminutes |
|
Notes:
|
Appropriately described as Sapphires wrapped in swirls of cirrus nebulosity. Reference to 7 stars is curious as 9 are visible to the eye from reasonable skies. Brightest stars are blue giants with absolute magnitudes 330 to 1,000 times that of our sun. |
| About 150 million light years old, the star cluster is not assosiated with the blue nebulosity, which is just the "Taurus dark cloud complex through which it is currently passing. The dust from this cloud reflects the light of the stars. | |
|
|
Hundreds of the fainter stars are also part of this complex. |
| Telescopes | Takahashi FS60C f/5.9 on Losmandy G-11 with Gemini L4 |
| Focal Length | 264 mm @ f/4.4 with Takahashi focal reducer |
| Guiding | SXV guidehead through 8" Intes Mak Cass @ f/6 |
| Telescope Control | Maxim DL (V4.5) |
| CCD Camera |
Starlight
Xpress SXV-H16 - USB 2 ExView progressive scan
2048 x 2048
(7.4 uM) pixel array (15.15 x 15.15 active area) -
|
| Image Scale | 5.77 arcsec/pixel |
| Filters |
1.25" Astronomik Type II Dichroic IR blocking
filters in True Tech filter wheel: Red, Green , Blue
|
| Exposures |
120
minutes total exposure: RGB all 8 x 5 minute subs unbinned
Sigma combined in Maxim
|
| Calibration | None |
| Processing Software | Maxim DL v4.5, Photoshop CS 2, NEAT Image |
| Location | Chiefland Astronomy Village, FL - 29.393 N , - 82.863 W |
| Date/Time | 11/18/06 |
