Taurus 12

Deep Sky Objects in Taurus:

Taurus contains two well known Messier objects: the Crab Nebula and the Pleiades. Besides these two there is the `other' cluster, known as The Hyades, and the curious "Hind's Variable Nebula".
Just northwest of zeta Tauri is the first of Messier's objects: M1, the Crab Nebula. Early observers thought the object to be a star cluster, something like a dimmer version of the Great Orion Nebula. Messier was so intrigued by it, on the night of 12 September, 1758, that he began his catalogue - the purpose of which was to keep observers from mistaking such objects for comets.
It takes a rather large telescope to see any of the filamentary features of the nebula; most viewers come away disappointed.
The Crab Nebula is a remnant of a supernova, whose explosion occurred (or rather, was visibly recorded) in July of 1054. Chinese and Japanese astronomers witnessed the event. In fact, it would have been difficult not to notice, for the night sky would have been lit up by a star with the visual magnitude of about -5, bright enough to be seen even in the daytime for nearly a month.
The star that exploded, producing the nebula, is now an optical pulsar. Even now, nearly a thousand years later, the nebula is hurtling through space at roughly a thousand kilometers per second. And it continues to grow; the nebula is now over thirteen light years in diameter (four parsecs) according to the Facts On File Dictionary of Astronomy.
M45, The Pleiades.
This open cluster contains as many as three thousand stars. The brightest seven go under the name The Seven Sisters" (from brighter to dimmer): Alcyone (eta Tauri), Electra, Maia, Merope, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Asterope. Added to the list are also Pleione (BU Tauri = 28 Tauri), just east of Alcyone, and Atlas (27 Tauri) who are actually Mum and Dad for the seven sisters. (The two are often seen as one star; it takes a clear night to see them as two separate stars.)

The Hyades

This open cluster of about two hundred stars is only 150 light years away, and considered to be about 600 million years old. It is shaped like a "V", just to the west of Aldebaran.
Just as the Pleiades have individual names, so did the Hyades at one time. In fact, these stars were supposed to be the half-sisters of the Pleiades, and Robert Burnham (Celestial Handbook) gives their names - and a great deal more on this group. Theta2 is the brightest star of the group, which forms a binary with theta1 (see below). The group is thought to be about 400 million years old.
These nine stars, then, constitute the minimum count, easily seen with the naked eye, while there are actually as many as 250 stars which belong to the group. The cluster is estimated to be 415 light years away. Even a small telescope brings this famous star cluster alive.