These stars are also known as M45 and The Seven Sisters. This image was captured with an unmodified Canon T1i with a 250mm lens. 40 X 60 Sec Exp at ISO 800. The images were processed in Deep Sky Stacker and final processing in CS6.
The formation of the stars is known as an Open Cluster. They reside in the constellation of Taurus. It is one of the closest star clusters to Earth at a distance of around 444 light years. These stars are reasonably new to the cosmos and formed about 100 million years ago. This beautiful cluster of stars can easily be seen with the naked eye and even better with binoculars. The Pleiades is prominent in the Northern Hemisphere during winter.
In Japanese the Pleiades is called Subaru which means “to unite” hence the stars on their Subaru vehicle icon.