Astronomy Picture of the Day - Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster

By Free Republic | Created at 2024-12-09 20:18:00 | Updated at 2024-12-25 05:20:20 2 weeks ago

Astronomy Picture of the Day - Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster
NASA ^ | 9 Dec, 2024 | Image Credit & Copyright: Francesco Pelizzo

Posted on 12/09/2024 12:15:39 PM PST by MtnClimber

Explanation: Have you ever seen the Pleiades star cluster? Even if you have, you probably have never seen it as large and clear as this. Perhaps the most famous star cluster on the sky, the bright stars of the Pleiades can be seen with the unaided eye even from the depths of a light-polluted city. With a long exposure from a dark location, though, the dust cloud surrounding the Pleiades star cluster becomes very evident. The featured 23-hour exposure, taken from Fagagna, Italy covers a sky area several times the size of the full moon. Also known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades lies about 400 light years away toward the constellation of the Bull (Taurus). A common legend with a modern twist is that one of the brighter stars faded since the cluster was named, leaving only six of the sister stars visible to the unaided eye. The actual number of Pleiades stars visible, however, may be more or less than seven, depending on the darkness of the surrounding sky and the clarity of the observer's eyesight.

TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa

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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 12/09/2024 12:15:39 PM PST by MtnClimber

To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 12/09/2024 12:16:11 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)

To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...

Pinging the APOD list

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3 posted on 12/09/2024 12:16:55 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)

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