This is M45, the star cluster also known as the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters.
It's easily visible with the naked eye, though whether you can actually see seven of the stars depends on how clear and dark the sky is. I knew the name long before I learned to recognize it in the night sky, because there's a wonderful episode in Mary Poppins (the original book, not the movie) where one of the stars comes down to London to buy Christmas presents for her sisters. So I always think of it as the Seven Sisters, no matter how many of them show up on any particular night.
Image Credit & Copyright: Marco Lorenzi (Glittering Lights)
1 comment:
Magnificent image. And that chapter from Mary Poppins is also one of my favorite stories from
all of children's bookdom!
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