This open star cluster in the constellation Taurus is known by several names: The Pleiades, Subaru and The Seven Sisters to name a few. In fact, the seven brightest stars are named for the mythological "Seven Sisters" -- Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygete, Celaeno, and Alcyone. In addition, the parents of the Seven Sisters, Atlas and Pleione are also members of the cluster. The 45th entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog is easily visible with the naked eye even in light polluted skies. The delicate blue reflection nebulosity was once thought to be associated directly with the star cluster's formation, but has since been determined to simply be in-the-line-of-sight, as the stars pass through it.
Telescope: Stellarvue SV80S LOMO @ f/6
Accessories: Stellarvue SFF6 flattener; Dew control by Dew Buster
Mount: Orion Atlas EQ-G controlled by EQMOD
Guiding: TS-OAG9 Off-axis, using a Starlight Xpress Lodestar via PHD
Camera: QHY9-C one-shot color CCD @ -20.0C
Filters: Hutech IDAS-LPS-V2
Exposure: 85 x 4min. (5hr. 40min.)
Acquisition: Nebulosity 2.3.6c
Processing: Bias/Flat calibration & bad pixel map in Nebulosity 2.3.6c; Registration in RegiStar; Std Dev 1.5 combine in Nebulosity; DDP in ImagesPlus 3.80a
Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS4; Gradient XTerminator; Carboni’s Tools; HLVG; Noise Ninja
Date(s): November 27 & 28, 2010