M45 Plejades the open cluster

The open star cluster the Pleiades (M45) is visible to the naked eye and resembles a miniature Big Dipper. The Pleiades—also known as Messier 45 (M45) or the Seven Sisters—is one of the most famous and easily visible open star clusters in the night sky. Located in the constellation Taurus, it is the Messier object closest to Earth.

Distance from Earth: Approximately 444 light-years.

An open star cluster surrounded by a reflection nebula.

Very young by cosmic standards—around 100 million years old.

Number of stars: Contains over 1,000 confirmed stars in total, though only a few are visible to the naked eye. It appears in all the images. 

Glowing rocks, lichens and mushrooms

The time-lapse shows 90 minutes of the Earth's rotation, captured while I was out photographing nearby. I found a small giant puffball hidden in the moss, as well as a fungus growing on a dead tree (a saprophyte). I also photographed lichens on rock outcrops. Certain minerals in the rock shift color when illuminated with UV light, fluorescing beautifully.

Small mushrooms and the nightsky

While searching the darkness for lovely little subjects, I stumbled upon these small mushrooms on a tree branch—beautiful! In the sky, one can see the section of the Milky Way containing the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. To the left of the star Deneb in Cygnus, a large and beautiful nebula—the North America Nebula (NGC 7000)—is visible. I photographed it using just a single 20-second exposure through the tree branches.