Open cluster
Pleiades (M45)
In Taurus (Tau) • Magnitude 1.6 • 1.8 degrees
Open the free AstroPlanner with Pleiades pre-selected, scored against your telescope, location, and the live cloud forecast.
Probably the most famous star cluster in human history — mentioned in Greek mythology, the Bible, and indigenous oral traditions on every continent. Despite the popular name "Seven Sisters," the cluster contains over 1,000 stars; most people can only see 6 or 7 with the naked eye.
Pleiades at a glance
| Catalog IDs | M45 |
| Type | Open cluster |
| Constellation | Taurus (Tau) |
| Right ascension | 03h 46m 59s |
| Declination | +24° 07' 12" |
| Apparent magnitude | 1.60 |
| Angular size | 110.0 × 110.0 arcmin |
| Max altitude at 45°N | 69° |
| Best imaging months | Aug, Sep, Oct |
How to image Pleiades
Pleiades sits in the constellation Taurus at right ascension 03h 46m 59s and declination +24° 07' 12". To frame and integrate it well, AstroPlanner will compute the optimal moonless window for tonight from your location, the field-of-view fit against your sensor and focal length, the suggested total integration time given your aperture and sky Bortle class, and a cloud-aware schedule that drops it from the plan if your nearest cloud forecast spike overlaps the best altitude window.