Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2023 January 5
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

               Messier 45: The Daughters of Atlas and Pleione
                Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Stefan Thrun

   Explanation: Hurtling through a [5]cosmic dust cloud a mere 400
   light-years away, the [6]lovely Pleiades or Seven Sisters open star
   cluster is well-known for its striking blue [7]reflection nebulae. It
   lies in the night sky toward the constellation Taurus and the Orion Arm
   of our Milky Way galaxy. The [8]sister stars are not related to the
   [9]dusty cloud though. They just happen to be passing through the same
   region of space. Known since antiquity as a compact grouping of stars,
   [10]Galileo first sketched the star cluster viewed through his
   telescope with stars too faint to be seen by eye. [11]Charles Messier
   recorded the position of the cluster as the 45th entry in his famous
   catalog of things which are not comets. In Greek myth, the [12]Pleiades
   were seven daughters of the astronomical titan Atlas and sea-nymph
   Pleione. Their parents names are included in the [13]cluster's nine
   brightest stars. This well-processed, color-calibrated [14]telescopic
   image features pin-point stars and detailed filaments of interstellar
   dust captured in over 9 hours of exposure. It spans more than 20
   light-years across the Pleiades star cluster.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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    Authors & editors: [26]Robert Nemiroff ([27]MTU) & [28]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([29]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [30]Specific rights apply.
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                A service of: [32]ASD at [33]NASA / [34]GSFC,
                         [35]NASA Science Activation
                           & [36]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2301/M_45_Plejarden_Stefan_Thrun_klein4096.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.astrobin.com/users/Stefan-Harry-Thrun/
   5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101118.html
   6. http://www.naic.edu/~gibson/pleiades/
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap011228.html
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200404.html
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070413.html
  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades#/media/File:Pleiades_Sidereus_Nuncius.png
  11. https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-messier-catalog
  12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades_(Greek_mythology)
  13. https://astronomy.com/sitefiles/resources/image.aspx?item={EACD7456-90E5-4EC4-876C-EB91BCACF096}
  14. https://www.astrobin.com/9nz1d8/
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230104.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  19. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  24. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230105
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230106.html
  26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  27. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  28. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  29. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  32. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/
  34. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  35. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  36. http://www.mtu.edu/