Messier 45

This image of open cluster M45, the Plejades, is a composite of three plates obtained by Malcolm Hartley with the 1.2-meter UK Schmidt Telescope: Blue: 30 minutes on Kodak IIa-O emulsion with GG 385 filter, Green: 30 min on IIa-D with GG 495, and Red: 40 minutes on 098-04 with RG 630. It was postprocessed by David Malin to enhance the fine structures in the reflection nebulae.

The lines in the nebula are typical for interstellar medium which is not much influenced by the nearby stars.

A close look at this image reveals a pink color at the southernmost (lowest) extension of the largest nebulosity (that around Merope). This is probably caused by interstellar absorption.

This image was cropped from a wider-field original photograph.

This images is copyrighted by the Australian Astronomical Observatory; see their usage policy.

• David Malin's informations on this image
• More images by David Malin
• Older scan of the UKS image of M45
• Similar image of the Pleiades by ROE/UKS
• This image was featured as Astronomy Picture of the Day September 3, 1996, October 18 1997, October 25 1998, February 27 2000, May 6 2001, and December 1 2002

Last Modification: May 9, 1998