Zooming into The Pleiades: Closest Star Cluster to Earth | ESO

Zooming into The Pleiades: Closest Star Cluster to Earth | ESO

Zooming into the star cluster Pleiades in the constellation of Taurus. 

The Pleiades, also known as The Seven Sisters, is an open cluster of stars located approximately 440 light-years away towards the constellation of Taurus (The Bull), making it the nearest star cluster to Earth. The cluster’s central region spans about eight light-years, with the diameter of The Pleiades as a whole estimated at 43 light-years. The Pleiades is a very prominent sight to the unaided eye during winter in the Northern Hemisphere, while in summer the cluster is best seen by observers in southern latitudes.

Most of the cluster’s members are very young, hot blue stars formed within the last 100 million years. So far, about 1,000 stars have been confirmed. The hint of bluish nebulosity around the brightest stars originates from a cloud of interstellar gas and dust that the cluster is passing through at the moment. The tiny particles of dust scatter the blue light from the nearest stars more favorably than other colors, so the region appears to twinkle in blue. The cluster contains many brown dwarfs, or failed stars. These objects, though more massive than planets, do not possess enough mass to ignite nuclear fusion reactions in their cores and burst into life as bright stars.

Video Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)

Caption Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Duration: 26 seconds

Release Date: Feb. 17, 2016

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