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.

                               2019 November 7
    [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]Adam Block, [5]Steward Observatory,
                            University of Arizona

   Explanation: Hurtling through a [6]cosmic dust cloud a mere 400
   light-years away, the [7]lovely Pleiades or Seven Sisters open star
   cluster is well-known for its striking blue [8]reflection nebulae. It
   lies in the night sky toward the constellation Taurus and the Orion Arm
   of our Milky Way Galaxy. The [9]sister stars and [10]cosmic dust cloud
   are not related though, they just happen to be passing through the same
   region of space. Known since antiquity as a compact grouping of stars,
   [11]Galileo first sketched the star cluster viewed through his
   telescope with stars too faint to be seen by eye. [12]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 [13]Pleiades
   were seven daughters of the astronomical Titan Atlas and sea-nymph
   Pleione. Their parents names are included in the cluster's nine
   brightest stars. This deep and wide telescopic image spans over 20
   light-years [14]across the Pleides 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]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1911/m45astrograph.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.adamblockphotos.com/
   5. http://www.as.arizona.edu/
   6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101118.html
   7. http://www.naic.edu/~gibson/pleiades/
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap011228.html
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070428.html
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070413.html
  11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades#/media/File:Pleiades_Sidereus_Nuncius.png
  12. https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-messier-catalog
  13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades_(Greek_mythology)
  14. https://www.adamblockphotos.com/m45-the-pleiades.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191106.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=191107
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191108.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. http://www.mtu.edu/