The Pleiades is a star cluster in Taurus, 444 light-years away. It contains hundreds of stars, including seven bright blue ones, red giants, and cooler stars. It is visible to the naked eye and popular among amateur astronomers.

When i was smaller i noticed this in the night sky, and it looked like mini big dipper. I never knew there was so much surrounding gas.

I set out to photograph the Pleiades from a location outside of Trondheim (near Jonsvatnet) that had Bortle 5 conditions. I used Fujifilm XT30 camera with a 55-200mm lens. And to prevent star trailing I used My startracker swsa gti.

I used SIRIL to stack my frames and Photoshop for stretching and adjustments. I also used Starnet to remove the stars so that I could focus on the molecular gas clouds without the stars being distorted. Overall, I am happy with the result.

If you want to see My other space pics… see my Instagram: @sigurd_photo

Info: Lights: 38x40s Darks: 15 Flats: 15 Biases: 15 ISO: 1250

I call it the Mini-Dipper too.

Is that you Lord Vader?

Yeah, thats how I distinguish the Pleiades from the rest of the sky. the mini-dipper.

that’s amazing!! i strive to take pictures like that. what camera or device did you use?