Object Description: Also known as the "Seven Sisters", the Pleiades can be seen without binoculars (even from a light-polluted city). M45 is one of the brightest and closest open clusters, containing over 500 stars about 400 light years away, and only 13 light years across. The dust cloud through which the Pleiades is currently passing is only incidental and is not related to the formation of the group. The blue color of the reflection nebulae is caused by Rayleigh scattering in the dust cloud. Rayleigh scattering is also responsible for the blue daytime sky on Earth.

Telescope: Takahashi FSQ106ED (Courtesy of Steve Pastor, THANKS STEVE)
Camera: Canon 40D unmodified
Mount: AstroPhysics 1200 unguided
Filters: no filters

Date Taken: 31DEC2007
Sky Conditions: 21.69mags/arcsecond^2, transparency 4/5, seeing 3/5, temp -6C
Image Acquisition: 12x300s 1x1 bin, using ImagesPlus3.0

Image Processing: ImagesPlus 3.0 used for calibration, bayerization, alignment, MinMaxExc combine for the RGB, initial DDP. PSCS2 used for levels, curves, and star color enhancement. GradX for background equalization and Noel Carboni's AstroTools. THIS IS FIRST LIGHT FOR MY CANON 40D. This is a test image before I modify the camera by removing the IR filter that blocks Ha specific light and replacing it with a filter that passes Ha and SII wavelengths.