M 45 - Pleiades

The Pleiades are well known in the legends and myths of many ancient cultures. At least six stars are visible to the naked eye, nine or more can be seen under a dark sky. Based on Creek mythodology, the brightest stars are named after the daughters of the sea-nymph Pleione and the titan Atlas.
The star cluster is located in the constellation Taurus only 425 light-years away. About 200 stars belong to the cluster that is about 100 million years old. The light of the blue giant stars is reflected on a dust cloud that moves independently from the cluster through the Milky Way. It is believed that the linear structures in the dust cloud are caused by magnetic fields in the nebula. A small HII region appears south of the star Merope.