Faint Spiral Galaxy Photobombs the 'Seven Sisters'
By Miguel Claro, Space.com Contributor | November 19, 2017 07:57am ET
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Glimmering through a dusty nebula that surrounds the Pleiades star cluster is the faint spiral galaxy UGC 2838, visible in the bottom-right corner of this photo by astrophotographer Miguel Claro.
Credit: Miguel Claro
A faint spiral galaxy lurks in deep space in this stunning view of the Pleiades star cluster.
The Pleiades (Messier 45) is an open star cluster in the constellation Taurus that contains middle-age, hot B-type stars. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth, and the brightest stars of the Pleiades — known as the Seven Sisters — can be spotted easily with the naked eye. More than 1,000 stars reside in the Pleiades, of which more than a dozen can be seen without telescopes or binoculars.
This celestial entity holds special significance in different cultures and traditions. Some have speculated that its name may have derived from the ancient Greek word "plein," meaning "to sail," as the cluster's first appearance above the eastern horizon marked the beginning of the sailing season in the Mediterranean. In ancient Greek mythology, the seven divine sisters were called the Pleiades, meaning "daughters of Pleione." [The Brightest Stars in the Sky: A Starry Countdown]
The blue cloud of interstellar dust and gas surrounding the cluster is a reflection nebula that glows with faint light reflected from local stars. Dust around the brightest stars of the Pleiades was initially thought to be leftover star ingredients from the formation of the cluster and was informally named the Maia Nebula, after the fourth-brightest star in the cluster, Maia. Astronomers now think the dust is unrelated to the stars' formation. Instead, it appears to be just another nebula in space that the cluster happens to be passing through, according to NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day.
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