How to photograph the Pleiades (M45)
A bright blue star cluster wrapped in faint reflection nebulosity.
Photo byNASA, ESA, AURA/Caltech, Palomar Observatory(Public domain)
When to shoot it from your location
About the Pleiades
The Pleiades are easy to find and look good at any focal length. The blue dust lit by the cluster’s hot stars is the hard part, and it only shows with dark skies, no Moon and a lot of total exposure.
Gear and framing
The Pleiades spans about 110′ of sky. It frames best with:
- Telephoto (85-300mm lens)
- Small refractor (250-600mm)
You can see how other people have built their rigs on RigDesigner, including my Sony a6700 and 60mm refractor rig.
Filters
This is a broadband target, which means its light is mostly starlight across the whole spectrum. Shoot it with no filter or a UV/IR cut filter. A broadband light pollution filter can help a little in the suburbs. Dual-band and narrowband filters block most of its light, so leave them off. Plan it for a moonless night at a dark site.
Tips
- Reflection nebulae are broadband targets. Skip narrowband filters and wait for a moonless night.
- Two to four hours of total exposure is where the surrounding dust starts to appear.
Processing
Stack your light frames with darks and flats, then remove the background gradient before stretching. AstroBake does all of this for you. Point it at your folders of raw frames, then adjust the result with live sliders.