The Pleiades - also known as The
Seven Sisters, Messier 45, and other names by different
cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing
middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the
constellation Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest to
Earth, it is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the
cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
The
cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have
formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae
around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over
material from their formation, but are now considered likely
to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium
through which the stars are currently passing. [Wikipedia] |
