M45 – The Pleiades.
A wonderful open cluster that is large and very bright. Under a dark sky anywhere from 6 to 9 stars are visible to the naked eye. A photograph reveals many more stars and the blue reflection nebula that these stars are surrounded by. This is a 45 minute exposure on Fuji Superia 800 X-tra taken at the prime focus of my 4" f6 refractor. This shot was taken at the NCO Boon site during the October 1999 star party.