Sparkling like diamonds scattered on velvet, the stars of the Pleiades contain the faint Merope Nebula.
The Pleiades open cluster is an iconic showpiece of the autumn night sky.
Located in Taurus, it’s easily visible to the naked eye and looks resplendent through binoculars.
- Capture an image of the famous blue star cluster with our guide on how to photograph the Pleiades
Where to find the Merope Nebula
The Merope Nebula is a reflection nebula resulting from the cluster stars passing through dust clouds as they move within our Galaxy.
The nebula is relatively straightforward to record using long-exposure photography, but is challenging to see visually.
The brightest part is that just to the south of the star Merope (23 Tauri).
NGC 1435, as the Merope Nebula is also known, occupies the area west of a bent line of stars known informally as Ally’s braid, Ally being a reference to the brightest Pleiad, Alcyone (Eta (η) Tauri).
Observing
The Merope Nebula was first identified using a 100mm refractor by the German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel in 1859 and was originally known as Tempel’s Nebula.
Although this may give hope for a view through smaller apertures, it’s important to realise that you need very dark skies if using anything under 200mm and even then, the darker the better.
It goes without saying that in order to maximise your chances of spotting the nebula, you need to make sure your eyes are properly dark-adapted, keeping them in darkness for at least 20 minutes.
A mid- to low-power eyepiece works best when observing the Merope Nebula.
The sky needs to be clear and mist-free, as do your optics.
If it’s a cold night, make sure your eyepiece isn’t misted up, as this can hide it too.
Ally’s braid is a useful guide to identifying the position of the Merope Nebula and it can also help confirm its existence too.
If you suspect you’ve seen nebulosity, switch your view to the other side of the braid (east side) which is dark without nebulosity.
Alternating your view between each side really helps to confirm you have seen something.
Use averted vision here, the technique of looking slightly to the side of a faint object to place its light onto a more sensitive part of your retina.
Found the Merope Nebula? Now try this
If you catch the misty nebula and get a taste for investigating the region, and have access to a 300mm or larger scope, try for IC 349.
Also known as Barnard’s Merope Nebula, this is a 30-arcsecond knot of nebulosity that sits just 30 arcseconds south of Merope.
It shines at 13th magnitude, which makes this a really tough challenge.
An occulting bar to hide Merope’s light is one method that can help reveal its triangular shape.
Have you observed or photographed the Merope Nebula? Let us know by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com.
