Pleiades (star cluster)

The Pleiades is an open cluster in the constellation of Taurus also known as Messier 45, or just M 45. This relatively nearby cluster (about 380 light years) is also known as the Seven Sisters although from cities only the five or six brightest stars are visible. From a dark site, ten or more are visible. The stars are surrounded by nebulosity, observable in photographs taken using long period exposures through telescopes with significant apertures. Due to the particular arrangement of the stars in the cluster and its compact appearance, it is often mistaken for the Little Dipper by those with little knowledge of astronomy.

Visible members of the Pleiades are luminous blue or white stars. The cluster contains hundreds of other stars too faint to be visible to the naked eye. This is a young cluster, with an estimated age of about 100 million years, and a projected life of only an additional 250 million years.

The Pleiades' high visibility in the night sky has guaranteed it a special place in cultures, antique and modern:

To the Vikings, they were Freya's hens.
To the Maori of New Zealand, the Pleiades are called Mataariki and their heliacal rising signifies the beginning of the new year (around June).
The Australian Aborigines believed they were a woman who had been nearly raped by Kidili, the man in the moon. Alternatively, they were seven sisters called the Makara.
It is said that the Native Americans measured keenness of vision by the number of stars the viewer could see in the Pleiades. Even in historical Europe, especially in Greek circles, the Pleiades were a common vision test.
In Japan, the Pleiades are known as Subaru. The Subaru car company uses the Pleiades as their logo.
In Greek mythology, the Seven Sisters were traditionally identified as:
1. Asterope
2. Dryope or Merope or Aero
3. Electra
4. Maia
5. Taygete
6. Celaeno
7. Alcyone

Each of the names is assigned to a single star in the cluster. They were mountain-nymphs (Oreads), the daughters of Atlas and Pleione, who are also represented by stars in the cluster; the granddaughters of Iapetus and Clymene, and the sisters of the Hyades, Calypso, and Dione. They committed suicide after the deaths of their sisters, the Hyades.

Alternatively, they were known as the Atlantides.

**Pleiades Bright Stars**
Name	Number	Mv	Type	Catalog
Alcyone	eta (25) Tauri	2.86	B7e III	vdB 23
Atlas	27 Tauri	3.62	B8 III	Ced 190
Electra	17 Tauri	3.70	B6e III	vdB 20
Maia	20 Tauri	3.86	B7 III	NGC 1432
Merope	23 Tauri	4.17	B6 IV	NGC 1435, IC 349
Taygeta	19 Tauri	4.29	B6 V	Ced 19e
Pleione	BU (28) Tauri	5.09 (var)	B8e p	Ced 19p
Celaeno	16 Tauri	5.44	B7 IV	Ced 19c
Asterope	21 and 22 Tauri	5.64/6.41	B8e V/B9 V
Sterope	18 Tauri	5.65	B8 V	Ced 19h

Name: common name

Number: astronomical designation

Mv: visual magnitude

Type: spectral type

Catalog: catalog number of associated nebulosity

See also: La Pléiade, a group of 16th-century French poets

Pleiades (star cluster)

External links and references