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octane2 — The Pleiades in Taurus
Published: 2006-10-25 16:05:36 +0000 UTC; Views: 21959; Favourites: 386; Downloads: 496
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Description
Full view for maximum effect.The Pleiades (M45) in Taurus
The Pleiades (Seven Sisters in Greek mythology) are the most famous of all the open star clusters. Approximately 500 stars adorn the black velvet sky. This first magnitude cluster is quite young and is easily visible to the naked eye. It somewhat resembles a smaller version of the Big Dipper. At least 6 hot blue stars are readily visible; those with trained eyes can see more.
Because of its large diameter (2 degrees), M45 is best seen in binoculars, or through a medium focal length telescope. A faint veil of nebulosity surrounds the brighest stars in the Pleiades, with the most easily seen patch being the Merope Nebula (IC 349), which surrounds the star Merope.
These reflection nebulae are not remnants of the gas cloud where the Pleiades were born, rather, they are just passing through interstellar dust and cloud.
The major stars which comprise the Pleiades have some beautiful names (Seven Sisters); Maia, Taygeta, Merope, Alcyone, Electra, Asterope and Celaeno.
In some ancient cultures, people would engage in ceremonies to honour the dead when the Pleiades had reached the highest point in the sky at midnight. Ancient Aztecs believed the Pleiades would be overhead at midnight the day the world would end.
This composite consists of one set of images; one set of 15 images taken at ISO-800.
Each individual image was a 240 second exposure.
IRIS was used to calibrate each image (dark subtraction [median combined master dark] and flat field division [median combined master flat {lights and darks}]), to register, align, and finally stack.
Photoshop CS2 was used to adjust levels, curves, saturation, colour balance, noise reduction, frame and resize the final composite.
Target: The Pleiades (M45) in Taurus
Date: Sunday, October 22nd, 2006
Time: First image: 02:45 AM
Time: Last image: 04:08 AM
Location: Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia
Camera: Canon EOS-350D
Telescope: Saxon ED80
Focal length: 600mm
Mount: Piggy-backed onto an 8" Meade LX90 LNT (F/10)
Autoguided: Through 8" Meade LX90 LNT (F/10)
Guider: Meade DSI-C
Alignment: Equatorial; via equatorial wedge
Exposure: 15 x 240 seconds @ ISO-800 (RAW)
Software: IRIS: Calibration, registration, stacking; Adobe Photoshop CS2: post-processing and framing
Related content
Comments: 180
I have to ask, I;m using a Canon PowerShot SX120 (I only know this because it says on the camera. Otherwise I would just left it at Canon 
And you mentioned the software IRIS. Is that required for processing this sort of photography?
I just want to know since I work weekend nights and so have plenty of time to take these sorts of pictures. Best of all I work in a fairly rural area as opposed to where I live, so the sky is pretty clear!
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That's one of the few advantages of living in a very, very, very small village, having a great view of the stars.
I love your Astronomy pictures, also, I like how you give scientific background information to every piece, very interesting.
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Ine,
I have to travel to a friend's property to take my images. Luckily, he lives about an hour from the nearest big town. He's also on top of a hill so is saved from any residual light pollution. But, yes, you're absolutely correct about being lucky to live in a small town!
And, thanks for noticing the effort I put in my descriptions.
Regards,
H
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One word for ya'............................BEAST!
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This impressive piece has been featured here [link]
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gwenyre,
Did you move to the city?
Regards,
H
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no i use to live on an island it makes me feel home sick not being able to hear the ocean or see the stars
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Oh wow. SO beautiful. The Pleiades are one of my all time favourite constellations.
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wow... tha'ts beautiful! i'm floating now... amazing!
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I love the Pleiades, they are so bright and I can always spot them in the sky. Another amazing photo!
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I’ve featured this picture in my news article:
The Glitter Effect:.Rainbow.
Thanks for providing such a beautiful piece
Enjoy
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homigl14,
Thank you for the feature. Much appreciated.
Regards,
H
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This is absolutely amazing 
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This beautiful work is being featured here: [link] .
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It's so beautiful. I always had a thing for astrological submissions on DA.
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Lovely. One of my favorite nighttime companions.
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I was recently at an Astronomy Evening, and I was fascinated by the Pleiades. Beautiful image!
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This is such a beautiful picture, a subject known to me and still not. To see it captured like this is happiness for me, to see the seven sisters shine brightly and clear. I am one of seven, one of six sisters, of which only four are known to me. It is an amotional constellation, i one can be allowed to see it that way. A beautiful portrayal, a beautiful section of the night.
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the pleiades are my favourite thing to find, apart from the orion nebula
mostly because they're all I can ever find ^_^;
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That's so pretty!!!
I can't wait to get my new Meade Polaris telescope... but I doubt I'll be able to see much with it! It's like, 50mm... O.o
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KristenSpork,
Thank you greatly for your kind words of praise.
A telescope is a telescope; anything which lets you peak at the splendour and glory of the heavens is a step up.
The other benefit with starting out small is that if you don't like the hobby, you haven't lost too much in the way of expense. If you do end up liking staring at the heavens, then, you will further appreciate equipment when you are able to afford bigger and better telescopes.
Cheers.
Regards,
H
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Oh, believe me, I definately like the hobby.
I'm out gazing up at Orion in the winter time, no matter how cold the night is.
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Beutifuly stunning, so very bright and vivid.
Reminds me of the Peter Howl star scream from Doctor Who.
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The Pleiades are an interesting sight in the night sky; supposedly they're all relatively new stars. I'd like to see what a view from one of the planets circling those stars is like. But, since that's not exactly possible at the moment, this view will do.
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Beautiful tribute to M45
How many filters did you use on this?
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MountainRose,
I didn't use any filters. To create the diffraction spikes, I used fishing line fastened to the front of the telescope in the shape of a cross. Doing this does a couple of things; a) it allows you to focus easily as the lines go from being double to single as you focus, and b) creates the diffraction spikes you see here. Some people hate them and reckon they detract from the image. I'm a huge fan of them, as it has the Hubble Space Telescope effect.
Thank you for the compliment.
Regards,
H
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MountainRose,
Thank you for your most kind compliment.
Actually, there weren't any filters used, at all. The diffraction spikes on the brightest stars were created by placing fishing line in the shape of a cross across the front of the telescope. This causes the light to bleed along the edge of the fishing line and gives those gorgeous spikes.
Regards,
H
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if i could look at that view every night of my life, i would be the happiest gal alive..
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liyinalways,
I know exactly what you mean -- it is an amazing part of the sky. So beautiful.
Regards,
H
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There are two thinks I always look for in the night sky - Orion and the Pleiades - my favorites. Lovely picture you've made here!
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LissaMonster,
Funny that, Orion and the Pleiades are also a couple of the first things I look for in the sky, apart from The Pointers and the Southern Cross.
Thank you for the kind words.
Regards,
H
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Absolutely gorgeous!
And I love it especially since I'm born in Taurus...
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Phoenixfiregirl,
Thank you for the very kind compliment.
M45 is one of my favourite objects, too. For us, in Australia, it's a Summer asterism.
Regards,
H
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Ah okay... I find astronomy very interesting, though I'm still looking for some really nice photos of the McNaught comet... I kept a good watch on it when it passed... Hard to believe that it will never be seen by anyone again...
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Phoenixfiregirl,
Astronomy is interesting.
I took a photograph of Comet McNaught. Check out my gallery, if you haven't already.
At the time it was taken, I was told it was one of the best photos of the comet taken in the southern hemisphere.
Regards,
H
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I will definitely go take a look! I live in South Africa, so we also got a clear view of McNaught, though I'd love to see photos taken by professionals in the field...
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You give so much detail in your artist's comments for professionals.
Then you give details for those of us who aren't.
"In some ancient cultures, people would engage in ceremonies to honour the dead when the Pleiades had reached the highest point in the sky at midnight. Ancient Aztecs believed the Pleiades would be overhead at midnight the day the world would end."
It is the little things like this that put you above other astrophotographers of similar calliber.
I don't suppose, having gotten my curiosity with the line about the Aztecs, that you know if their prophecy has ever occured? I mean, if the Pleiades have hung overhead at midnight. I don't know how the Pleiades move through the sky so I don't know if this is an occurance that would happen every thousand years or an impossible occurance that would hence spell 'doomsday' if it did.
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Breathtaking. When I had my own telescope, the Seven Sisters were one of the objects I most often visited with my eyepiece on a cold night.
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You might try taking this back into Photoshop and adjusting the shadows up by about 30 points. I'm using a different processing program but I think that should make the photo less...hazy, dusky? Not sure what the word I'm looking for is. It's a /beautiful/ photo, but the blackness just isn't...black. There's a haze over the whole photo. I know far less about post-processing of these photos than you do of course, so it may cause a reduction in detail or some other undesirable effect I'm not aware of.
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are you sure that's real star?
so impossible for me... but great work! love it heaps..
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The Pleyades have been my favourite open cluster since I was seven
M44, NGC869 and 884 (I'd like to kill those responsible for the lack of Greek characters on this site) are lovely as well.
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