M45 · open cluster
Pleiades Cluster
The Pleiades, also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an asterism of an open star cluster containing young B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Taurus.
Identity & coordinates
Identification
- Primary designation
- M45
- All designations
- M45 · Pleiades
- Object type
- Open Cluster
- Constellation
- Taurus
- Best viewing
- Winter
Coordinates & physical
- Right ascension (J2000)
- 03h 47m 28s
- Declination (J2000)
- +24° 06' 19"
- Apparent magnitude (V)
- —
- Distance
- —
Visibility tonight
In your gallery
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December 5, 2025 · Backyard Observatory, Michigan
The Seven Sisters
Seven sisters and the dust we don't notice with our eyes.
- Integration
- 38m
- Subs
- 228 × 10s
- Telescope
- Celestron Origin
- Camera
- Sony IMX178 (built-in)
- Bortle
- 6
- Moon
- Waxing Crescent, 22%
The science
The Pleiades, also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an asterism of an open star cluster containing young B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light-years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and the nearest Messier object to Earth, being the most obvious star cluster to the naked eye in the night sky. It contains over 1,000 stars, with the brightest six or seven being easily visible to the naked eye.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia · CC-BY-SA-4.0
References
- SIMBAD Not resolved
- NED Fetched May 8, 2026 View in NED ↗
- Wikipedia Fetched May 8, 2026 Read full article ↗
Wikipedia title resolved via common_name+suffix — added the type suffix to the seed common name.
1 merge conflict resolved
- coordinates: SIMBAD missing → NED used