The Merope Nebula, sometimes called Tempel’s Nebula or NGC 1435 by astronomers, is a reflection nebula located in the famous Pleiades Cluster. Discovered on October 19, 1859 by astronomer Wilhelm Tempel, some say that it might be a Supernova Remnant. The hot and young pleiade star Merope (a few million years) ionizes the dust and gas from the nebula, thus making it glow.

Located at about 440 light-years from Earth, this Nebula has an apparent magnitude of 13, and, like most Nebula, render much better on photographs than with the (sadly) poor human eye. The CFHT is here to help us! More on the Pleiades coming up soon…

Image Credit: Canada France Hawaii Telescope