Messier 45 (M45), also known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, is a bright open star cluster located in the constellation Taurus, the Bull. The Pleiades cluster has an apparent magnitude of 1.6 and lies at an average distance of 444 light years from Earth. The cluster is also known as Melotte 22. It does not have an NGC designation.
Read More »Messier 45: Pleiades
Messier 44 (M44), also known as the Beehive Cluster or Praesepe (the Manger), is an open star cluster in the constellation Cancer. Praesepe is a bright, large cluster with an apparent magnitude of 3.7. It lies at a distance of 577 light years from Earth. It has the designation NGC 2632 in the New General Catalogue.
Read More »Messier 44: Beehive Cluster
Messier 35 (M35) is a large open star cluster located in the northern constellation Gemini. The cluster consists of several hundred stars, of which 120 are brighter than magnitude 13. The central region has a density of 6.21 stars per cubic parsec.
Read More »Messier 35
Messier 1 (M1), also known as the Crab Nebula, Taurus A, or NGC 1952, is an expanding supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula. It is located in the northern constellation Taurus, the Bull. The Crab Nebula has an apparent magnitude of 8.4 and can be seen with binoculars in good viewing conditions.
Messier 1 is the only supernova remnant listed in Messier’s catalogue and the most famous object of its kind in the night sky. The nebula has a total luminosity 75,000 times that of the Sun and lies at a distance of 6,500 light years from Earth.
Read More »Messier 1: Crab Nebula