Pleiades
The Pleiades, also known as M45 or the Seven Sisters, is an open star cluster consisting of middle-aged, hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. The cluster is dominated by hot blue and extremely luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Observations of the Pleiades have shown that the cluster is moving through space together as a commonality of stellar siblings. Photographing this celestial body offers a glimpse into the interstellar interactions and the beauty of stellar evolution. Also considered a reflection nebula, the blue nebulosity surrounding the stars of the Pleiades cluster is caused by dust scattering the blue light from the stars.
This particular image of the Pleiades was captured in October 2020 with a Nikon D7500 camera equipped with a 200-500mm lens, set at ISO 800. A total exposure time of three hours and one minute was achieved by stacking 362 thirty-second frames. The imaging was conducted using a ZWO HEQ-5 mount. This was an experiment using regular camera equipment before the transition to dedicated astrophotography cameras, showcasing that with skill and patience, even consumer-grade photography gear can capture the grandeur of the cosmos.