APOD: The Pleiades Deep and Dusty (2014 Feb 25)

[MargaritaMc]

Thanks for coming here and answering those questions for us, Dave.

Yes, thank you very much, Dave. As you know, I think the image is exquisite.
Margarita

This is the submission thread info for this image, which I didn't think to look for earlier:
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 50#p220680

[Anthony Barreiro]

Thanks for coming here and answering those questions for us, Dave.

Yes, thank you!

[Boomer12k]

Please excuse my interruption...but what is Gegenschein again???

In such a system...would there not be a more noticeable effect?

:---[===] *

[Chris Peterson]

Please excuse my interruption...but what is Gegenschein again???

In such a system...would there not be a more noticeable effect?

No, because the gegenschein is backscatter off of interplanetary dust particles. The solar wind would largely keep a large bubble around a star moving through such a cloud free of interstellar dust. The particles responsible for the gegenschein and for the zodiacal light are quite large- on the order of a millimeter. Interstellar dust is more on the order of a micrometer, or even smaller, so it is much more affected by solar wind and radiation pressure.

[Nitpicker]

Hats off to you Mr Lane. I've seen many images of The Pleiades, but none anywhere near as deep and dusty. An heroic effort.

[Anthony Barreiro]

After an informative discussion with Margarita, I've realized that this image makes a lot more sense to me as a picture of Gould's Belt, with the Pleiades providing backlighting, rather than as a picture of the Pleiades per se.