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M45 - The Pleiades
Distance From Earth - 440 Light years
Diameter - 17 Lights Years Across (for the bright central cluster)
The Pleiades is a nearby open star cluster located about 440 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. Its hot, blue B-type stars formed roughly 100 million years ago from the same molecular cloud and remain gravitationally associated. The faint blue nebulosity often seen around the cluster is a reflection nebula, caused by interstellar dust scattering starlight as the cluster passes through it, not by ongoing star formation.
M45 - The Pleiades
Distance From Earth - 440 Light years
Diameter - 17 Lights Years Across (for the bright central cluster)
The Pleiades is a nearby open star cluster located about 440 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. Its hot, blue B-type stars formed roughly 100 million years ago from the same molecular cloud and remain gravitationally associated. The faint blue nebulosity often seen around the cluster is a reflection nebula, caused by interstellar dust scattering starlight as the cluster passes through it, not by ongoing star formation.