M45: The Pleiades
| Catalogues | M45 | |
| Names | The Pleiades; The Seven Sisters | |
| Type | Open Cluster | |
| Constellation | Taurus | |
| Season Visible in Evening | Autumn & Winter; Oct - Feb | |
| Conversation Notes | Nearby open cluster, clearly visible with naked eye. So close and large that it requires very low magnification - better in binoculars than in the telescope. |
M45 is clearly visible in the winter sky - you don't need instructions on finding it, just confirmation that that object is the one we are discussing. (It's rather common to encounter people who have seen this object but think it is The Little Dipper. It does have a tiny dipper-like shape of stars, so this misunderstanding is understandable.)
In the Japanese language, this object is called "Subaru", which is why a cluster of seven stars is the logo on the grill of Subaru automobiles.
Finding M45
| Look to the southern winter sky, approximately 45 degrees up from the horizon. |  |
| Find the constellation Orion, easy to locate by the distinctive "belt" of 3 close-spaced stars. |  |
| Move upward and to the right of Orion, at a distance of a little more than his height, looking for a compact, bright, roughly triangular knot of stars. That is M45. |  |
| In binoculars or a magnifying Finder, the cluster is very pretty. |  |
In your telescope, you may find it actually looks worse than in the finder, because the cluster is so large that your telescope will not fit it all in the field of view. Short-focal length telescopes such as small refractors, with wide-field eyepieces, can still show the entire cluster in its beauty. |
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All the above images were generated with Starry Night Pro.
