The famous blue formation of the Pleiades star cluster radiates beautifully in this image recently sent to Space.com.
The Pleiades star cluster, also known as M45 or the Seven Sisters, is a group of 800 stars that formed about 100 million years ago and is located 410 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Taurus. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).
Astrophotographer Chuck Manges of Hooversville, Pa., used a QHY9M camera and an AT65EDQ telescope on Aug. 14 and Sept. 4, 2013 to capture the image (luminance 9x600 bin 1x1, red 6x300 bin 2x2, green 6x300 2x2, blue 9x300 bin 2x2).
Bright stars Atlas and Pleione, along with their seven daughter stars, typically make up what we can see with the naked eye. The hot blue glow of the brightest stars, which were formed within the last 100 million years, means they are extremely luminous and burn out quickly. Scientists estimate these stars will survive for more than 200 million years before they die out.
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