The Pleiades are an open star cluster that is approximately 440 light years away from Earth. It is easy to see at night, even with the naked eye. However, when I look through my telescope at night at the Pleiades, this is not the image that I see. This is an image captured from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope. This space-born telescope has a 16 inch diameter and surveys light in the infrared wavelengths.
All four infrared detectors aboard WISE were used to make this mosaic. Color is representational: blue and cyan represent infrared light at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns, which is dominated by light from stars. Green and red represent light at 12 and 22 microns, which is mostly light from warm dust.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team
