Canon 350D Hap Griffin Baader Mod
35x60sec at iso 1600
30 Darks/Flats/Bias
Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L at 200mm and f/3.2

North is to the left in this image.

This image is meant to represent the area surronding the Pleiades - not a showpiece image of the cluster/nebula itself.

The Pleiades (M45, Seven Sisters, Seven Stars, Matariki (New Zealand Maori), Subaru (Japan), and perhaps a score of lost and ancient names) is arguably the night sky feature that is the best known and most most deeply entrenched in human mythology and the human psyche.

This object is known to virtually all human cultures and societies and carries some significance in all of them.

Unavoidably, when such a prominent and universal icon as the Pleiades has an influence on humanity, there will be those on the fringe that choose to mystify it. There is even a society that believes that some groups of humans carry genes from a race of extraterrestrials originating in the Pleiades.

Astronomically, the cluster is 13 light years across, contains 3000 stars and is about 400 light years distant. It is engulfed in cold, non-excited dust which reflects the bright, blue light from the young hot stars that dominate.

November 4, 2008