The beautiful blue AIP colors of this
well-known object
The Pleiades Star Cluster
is the most famous star cluster on the sky. The Pleiades can
be seen without binoculars from even the depths of a light-polluted city.
Also known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades is one of the
brightest and closest open clusters.
The Pleiades contains over 3000 stars,
is about 400 light years away, and only 13 light years across. Quite evident
in the above photograph are the blue reflection nebulae that surround the
bright cluster stars. Low mass, faint, brown dwarfs have recently been found
in the Pleiades.
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC &: Michigan Tech. U.
This picture was the GSFC/NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day of
October 25, 1998
