Merope Nebula

Taurus - Reflection Nebula - Splendid!

The Merope Nebula - NGC 1435

The brightest and most majestic open cluster in all the sky! The Pleiades have been known for centuries and was referred to in ancient documents, especially the Bible, due to its uncomparable beauty. Known as the "seven sisters," a reference to the brightest its stars, the Pleiades can be seen with the naked eye in even the worst of night skies, taking on the shape of a small dipper. In fact, many beginning observers often confuse this object with the Little Dipper itself. The entire cluster covers an area of the sky exceeding 2 degrees, or the equivalent of 4 of our full moons in width. Because of it's huge size, not all of the cluster can be shown in this CCD image. The bright star in this image is Merope (23 Tauri), which lights up the surrounding gases in such a way that is shows up easily in a long exposure. This reflection nebula is also known in the New General Catalogue as NGC 1435. The wispy nebulousity around the star itself is also known separately as IC 349. The entire cluster looks best in smaller aperture scopes where the field of view can put all of the Pleiades in the eyepiece. Simply put, there's not a better small scope object in the heavens!

Location: Ballauer Observatory in Azle, Texas
Seeing: 8/10 (1.3 FWHM)
Transparency: 4/10
Date: December 29, 2003
Equipment: SBIG ST-7E, Tak FSQ-106 @ f/5, and Celestron CGE mount
Exposure Info: LRGB image (L = 4x10 minutes, R = 3 x 5 minutes, G = 3 x 5 minutes, B = 5 x 5 minutes) binned 1x1.
Processing Information: MaxIm (Gradient removal, dark subtract, align and combine), Photoshop 7 (Levels, Curves, Blur/sharpen, and final composite)

Other info: Diffraction spikes created with string taped over scope aperture; personal preference.