M-45 from the Caribbean sea, November, 1983

On 27 November, 1983, I was stationed on the aircraft carrier USS America, which at the time was steaming in Caribbean, conducting training exercises. For more than two years, I had been successfully observing from the ship using small, wide field Newtonian telescopes mounted on photo tripods.

This night was very clear and the sea state was very smooth. Various other issues combined to allow a wonderful night looking at a number of objects. Taking advantage of a position of only 20 degrees north, one area of study that night had been the Fornax galaxy cluster.

But the gem of the night occurred after pointing the 4.25-inch f/4 reflector at M-45. With a 24mm Brandon eyepiece at 17x, the seven sisters were a dazzling sight, inter-weaved with veils of nebulosity, including wisps around Merope, Alcyone, Electra and Maia. Not too surprisingly, the nebulosity around Merope was the easiest to see; it is the brightest of the bunch. But more impressive was the combination of all the bits of nebulosity and the fine detail visible - the dark areas - between them. Today, in 2006, I can't claim I've had a better view of M-45. Be it expensive rich field refractors, or large dobsonians; from suburban skies to dark skies from remote locations in the United States.

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