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Open Cluster

Pleiades – Melotte 22 – M45

The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters, is an open star cluster located in the constellation Taurus, approximately 410 light-years from Earth, reaching its annual culmination at astronomical midnight at the end of November.

The Pleiades is a stunning open star cluster consisting of over 1,000 stars, with the brightest members glowing a hot blue color. Formed from a gigantic cloud of gas and dust, these stars are relatively young, estimated to be between 75 and 150 million years old. The cluster is easily visible to the naked eye and appears as a small, misty dipper-shaped arrangement of stars, making it a popular target for amateur astronomers and astrophotographers alike.

Names and Catalog numbers

– Seven Sisters
– Messier 45 (M45)
– Melotte 22

Position and the cosmic neighborhood

To locate the Pleiades, start by finding the constellation Orion. Draw a line using Orion’s belt stars and follow it upward past his bow. The first bright star you’ll encounter is Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus the Bull. Continue slightly further, and you’ll find the Pleiades cluster. In the northern hemisphere, the Pleiades are best observed high in the sky during late fall and winter evenings, from November to March.

Nice to Know

1. The Pleiades have been known since ancient times, with “origin stories” potentially dating back to 100,000 BC.
2. Galileo Galilei was the first to observe the Pleiades through a telescope.
3. The cluster is associated with various cultural myths and legends worldwide, including Greek mythology and Polynesian folklore.
4. The modern-day festival of Halloween may have origins in an old Druid rite that coincided with the midnight culmination of the Pleiades cluster.

Brightness, distance and size

The Pleiades cluster has an apparent magnitude of 1.2, making it easily visible to the naked eye. Located approximately 410 light-years from Earth, the cluster spans about 12 light-years in diameter. In the night sky, the Pleiades appear to cover an area of about 110 arcminutes, which is more than three times the apparent diameter of the full moon.

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