One of the best known, and most photographed of all Open Clusters, the Pleiades is often called the Seven Sisters. This very close Open Cluster contains over 3000 stars and also contains very faint reflection nebula which shows up very well in long exposures.
The cluster is passing through this large dust cloud, which is being illuminated by the hot blue stars of the cluster. The cloud and the stars are not connected, and both are moving at different speeds.
The age of the cluster is estimated at 115 million years.
M45 The Pleiades Cluster (NGC1432)
