M45: Terry Hancock

The Pleiades (Seven Sisters, Messier 45), is an open star cluster easily seen with the naked eye in the constellation of Taurus. The Seven Sisters is one of our nearest star clusters. M45 is extimated to last for some 250 million years and then as the stars gravitational fields interact with the galaxy, the asterism will fade away.

Computer simulations tell us that the Pleiades originally, in all probability, resembled the Orion Nebula.

The cluster is dominated by extremely luminous, hot stars condensing within the last 100 million years. Dust forms a faint reflection nebulosity due to a dust cloud in the interstellar medium that the stars are passing through currently.