Object:The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, is an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over material from the formation of the cluster but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing.
Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades were probably formed from a compact configuration that resembled the Orion Nebula. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood.
It is approximately 444 light-years away.
In hindsight, I would not have used the Optolong L-eXtreme filter due to the bloating of the brighter stars. Next time I will try the L-Pro.
Taken: November 7, 2021
Telescope: Skywatcher Esprit 80 ED Triplet APO Refractor
Mount: Paramount ME II
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro (cooled to 0C; Gain 100) Bin 1×1.
Guiding: ZWO ASI290MM-Mini with ZWO Off-Axis Guider (OAG)
Focuser: Starizona Micro Touch Autofocuser
Rotator: Optec Pixys LE camera field rotator
Filters used: Optolong L-eXtreme Dual-Band Filter
Exposures: 39×300 seconds for a total exposure time of 3 hours 15 minutes; calibrated with 40 dark frames, 40 flat frames with 40 dark-flats.
Seeing Conditions:
mage capture and telescope control: Sequence Generator Pro and TheSkyX Pro with a SkyShed POD MAX observatory.
Processed with PixInsight, Photoshop CC 2022