Seven Sisters Get WISE

Wise_wise2010-025_1024

wise_WISE2010-025 July 16th, 2010

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

This image shows the famous Pleiades cluster of stars as seen through the eyes of WISE, or NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. The mosaic contains a few hundred image frames -- just a fraction of the more than one million WISE has captured so far as it completes its first survey of the entire sky in infrared light.

The Pleiades are what astronomers call an open cluster of stars, meaning the stars are loosely bound to each other and will eventually, after a few hundred million years, go their separate ways. The cluster is prominent in the sky during winter months in the constellation Taurus, when viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. Often called the Seven Sisters from Greek tradition, this cluster of stars has been named by cultures the world over: Parveen in Persian; Tianquiztli in the Aztec tradition, and Subaru in Japan. The Pleiades is even the logo of the automotive company that bears its Japanese name.

In this infrared view of the Pleiades from WISE, the cluster is seen surrounded by an immense cloud of dust. When this cloud was first observed, it was thought to be leftover material from the formation of the cluster. However, studies have found the cluster to be about 100 million years old -- any dust left over from its formation would have long dissipated by this time, from radiation and winds from the most massive stars. The cluster is therefore probably just passing through the cloud seen here, heating it up and making it glow.

At a distance of about 436 light-years from Earth, the Pleiades is one of the closest star clusters and plays an important role in determining distances to astronomical bodies further away. This picture from WISE covers an area of 3.05 by 2.33 degrees, which is the roughly the same area on the sky that a grid of six full moons by 4.7 full moons would occupy. Most of the stars in the cluster fall within the 20-light-year-wide region shown here.

All four infrared detectors aboard WISE were used to make this mosaic. Color is representational: blue and cyan represent infrared light at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns, which is dominated by light from stars. Green and red represent light at 12 and 22 microns, which is mostly light from warm dust.

Provider: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

Image Source: /image/wise/WISE2010-025

Curator: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Berkeley, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Pulic Domain

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Pleiades Seven Sisters M45 Messier 45 NGC 1432
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Grouping > Cluster > Open
Nebula > Appearance > Reflection

Distance

Universescale1
430 light years
Wise_wise2010-025_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 3h 45m 54.5s
DEC = 24° 10’ 12.9”
Orientation
North is 180.0° CCW
Field of View
3.0 x 2.3 degrees
Constellation
Taurus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue WISE Infrared (Near-IR) 3.4 µm
Cyan WISE Infrared (Near-IR) 4.6 µm
Green WISE Infrared (Mid-IR) 12.0 µm
Red WISE Infrared (Mid-IR) 22.0 µm
Spectrum_ir1
Blue
Cyan
Green
Red
Wise_wise2010-025_1280
×
ID
WISE2010-025
Subject Category
B.3.6.4.1.   B.4.2.2.  
Subject Name
Pleiades, Seven Sisters, M45, Messier 45, NGC 1432
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
Release Date
2010-07-16
Lightyears
430
Redshift
Reference Url
/image/wise/WISE2010-025
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
WISE, WISE, WISE, WISE
Instrument
Color Assignment
Blue, Cyan, Green, Red
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Near-IR, Near-IR, Mid-IR, Mid-IR
Central Wavelength
3400, 4600, 12000, 22000
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
56.477089, 24.170254
Reference Dimension
4007, 3061
Reference Pixel
2004, 1531
Scale
-7.61111092288000e-04, 7.61111092288000e-04
Rotation
180
Coordinate System Projection:
SIN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
URL
http://wise.astro.ucla.edu
Name
Email
outreach@ssl.berkeley.edu
Telephone
Address
7 Gauss Way
City
Berkeley
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
94720
Country
USA
Rights
Pulic Domain
Publisher
Publisher ID
wise
Resource ID
Resource URL
/image/wise/WISE2010-025
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2018-01-11T02:45:21Z
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
430 light years

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