The Pleiades is a bright (naked eye) open star cluster within a surrounding reflection nebula.  found in Taurus (The Bull). It is also know as The Seven Sisters. It is 380 light years away and is 110 degrees across (two full moons). It has been know since ancient times having been mentioned by Hesiod in about 1000 BC, Homer in his Odyssee, and three references in the Bible.

The image above was taken with the 4" Takahashi, and ST-8E camera  on 27 Sept, 2008 from my home dome in Monmouth Oregon.  It is an RGB image (as detailed below). Calibration and alignment were done in MaxIm DL via custom scripts.  Final brightness settings were done with Photoshop.

The image below was taken 6 Jan, 2003 from the Mistletoe Observatory.  It is the Merope Nebula (NGC 1435), which is just a piece of the overall area. Merope is the bright star near center, and is one of the seven main bright stars.  The Merope Nebula was descovered in 1859. The star Merope is bright, but Alcyone (just outside the upper left) is even brighter, and this has caused many imaging artifacts, and reflections. But, I do like the color.

The image above was taken with the 12" LX200, AO7, and ST-8E camera at f/6.3 on Jan 6, 2003 from my home dome in Monmouth Oregon.  It is an BRGB image (as detailed below) since the reflection nebula is very blue, and I wanted to minimize blooming. Calibration and alignment were done in MaxIm DL. BRGB layering was done with Photoshop.  With an average altitude of 68 degrees, I balanced this to an RGB ratio of 1.14 1.00 2.06.