The Pleiades: Closest Star Cluster to Earth | Kitt Peak National Observatory

The Pleiades: Closest Star Cluster to Earth | Kitt Peak National Observatory

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak, Arizona. The Pleiades are an open cluster easily visible to the naked eye. The cluster is dominated by several hot, luminous and massive stars. The blue nebulosity surrounding the brightest stars are due to blue light from the stars scattering off of dust grains in the interstellar gas between us and the stars. The cluster is also known as the 'Seven Sisters'. The image was generated with observations in the B (blue), V (green), and I (red) filters. In this image, North is right, East is up.

The Pleiades is located approximately 440 light-years away towards the constellation of Taurus (The Bull). 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.

Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Richard Cool (University of Arizona) and WIYN

Release Date: June 30, 2020

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