Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2023 February 19 [2]The field of filamentary dust is shown with different sections showing different colors. Stars dot the background. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Seven Dusty Sisters in Infrared Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]WISE, [5]IRSA, Processing & Copyright : [6]Francesco Antonucci Explanation: Is this really the famous Pleiades star cluster? Known for its [7]iconic blue stars, the [8]Pleiades is shown here in [9]infrared light where the surrounding dust outshines the stars. Here three infrared colors have been mapped into visual colors (R=24, G=12, B=4.6 [10]microns). The base images were taken by NASA's orbiting [11]Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft. Cataloged as [12]M45 and nicknamed the [13]Seven Sisters, the [14]Pleiades star cluster is by chance situated in a [15]passing dust cloud. The light and [16]winds from the massive Pleiades stars preferentially repel smaller [17]dust particles, causing the dust to become stratified into [18]filaments, as seen. The featured image spans about 20 [19]light years at the distance of [20]the Pleiades, which lies about 450 light years distant toward the constellation of the Bull ([21]Taurus). Tomorrow's picture: stars and streaks __________________________________________________________________ [22]< | [23]Archive | [24]Submissions | [25]Index | [26]Search | [27]Calendar | [28]RSS | [29]Education | [30]About APOD | [31]Discuss | [32]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [33]Robert Nemiroff ([34]MTU) & [35]Jerry Bonnell ([36]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [37]Specific rights apply. [38]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [39]ASD at [40]NASA / [41]GSFC, [42]NASA Science Activation & [43]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2302/Pleiades_WiseAntonucci_5000.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/main/index.html 5. https://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/Missions/wise.html 6. mailto:%20ing.francescoantonucci%20@at@%20alice%20.dot.%20it 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140225.html 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades 9. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/07_infraredwaves 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micrometre 11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-field_Infrared_Survey_Explorer 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161019.html 13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades#Origin_of_name 14. https://arxiv.org/abs/0810.1592 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap171114.html 16. https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/dogs-on-joyrides-16__605.jpg 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120215.html 19. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/ 20. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/M45map.jpg 21. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_(constellation) 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230218.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 31. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230219 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230220.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 35. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 36. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 38. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 39. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 42. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 43. http://www.mtu.edu/