M45 - the Pleiades
This is a well-known, easy to recognise open cluster of stars. Most people can see 6 stars with the naked eye if they look carefully, though some claim to see 7 and so the cluster is also known as the Seven Sisters. The stars are embedded in some gas which glows faintly by reflected light. My latest photo had just a long enough exposure to show some of that nebulosity.
By the way, stars are not pointed. The brightest stars here show points due to the diffraction of light by the 4 thin supports of the secondary mirror in my telescope. Professional photos show the same effect if taken through a type of telescope which has a secondary mirror (ie, generally any reflecting telescope).
Canon EOS5DMkII 254mm Newtonian @ 1200mm 33 x 10s f/4.8 ISO3200 2009-9-26 23:09:00-23:17:15 BST