M45, The Pleiades. An open cluster with nebulosity.

This cluster of stars has been known since ancient times by many cultures including the Persians, Chinese, Japanese, American Indians, Greeks, Romans, and old testament Hebrews.  It's mentioned by name in the Iliad and Odyssey, and is referred to at least twice in the old testament. The Japanese call it the Subaru, after which that line of cars is named and their trademark logo is fashioned.  In Greek and Roman legend they were known by the names we commonly call them today, the Seven Sisters or the Pleiades. A Kiowa Indian legend tells of maidens that fled high into the sky from off the top of Devil's Tower in Wyoming to escape a giant bear that was after them. The giant bear's claw marks are plainly visible on all sides of the tower to this day.  Sometimes this cluster is seen as and mistaken as the little dipper, but it's not. The two stars to the left of the main group are the Pleiades parents Atlas and Pleione. Today one of the sisters, Sterope, is apparently not as bright as it is described in the tales of several thousand years ago. It is now difficult to pick out with the unaided eye. Some say maybe she's fading from the scene because she married a mortal.

Also known among astronomers as M45, it is one of the closest star clusters to us. Only the nearby Hyades, which are part of the face of Taurus the Bull, and are also the mythological sisters of the Pleiades, are closer. M45 is 400 light years away from us, and are about 8 light years wide from Atlas to Electra. Eight light years of distance is about as far as it is from us to the brightest and second closest star to us, Sirius, the dog star of Orion the hunter. The dozen or so brightest stars of M45 are gigantic, young, blue, hot and bright. members of the much larger cluster of about 1000 gravitationally linked stars. If we and our sun were in their midst, we could easily see the seven sisters during the day. The bluish cloudiness, or nebula, around Merope and the others is the thin interstellar gas that resides between us and them. That gas is actually so sparse that there are less molecules of it per cubic meter than the best vacuum we could ever create here on earth. However, since we are looking through many light years worth of it, there is cumulatively enough for astronomers to make out the structure and distribution of it between the Pleiades and us.

Click here for lots more info about the Pleiades.

80mm F6 AstroTech Refractor, (480mm F.L.) Modified Canon 300D camera with IR-UV filter, placed at the scopes prime focus
6 photos aligned and averaged together, then brightness, color, and contrast enhanced.
Click on photo above for a full frame full rez image.
Each photo, 400 seconds exposure at ISO 800