Pleiades

Also known as M45, Seven Sisters, Messier 45, Mel 22, SEVEN SISTERS

The Pleiades ( ), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an asterism of an open star cluster containing young B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light-years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and the nearest Messier object to Earth, being the most obvious star cluster to the naked eye in the night sky. It contains the reflection nebulae NGC 1432, an HII region, and NGC 1435, known as the Merope Nebula. Around 2330 BC the Pleiades marked the vernal point. Due to the brightness of its stars, the Pleiades is viewable fr

AI overview

The Pleiades, also called the Seven Sisters, is a nearby cluster of young stars located in the constellation Taurus about 444 light-years from Earth, making it the closest and most easily visible star cluster to the naked eye. It matters because it is one of the nearest star clusters to us and has been significant throughout human history, including marking the spring equinox around 2330 BC.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

Open cluster.image: Pleiades large.jpg
Open cluster.image_scale: 1.2
Open cluster.caption: A color-composite image of the Pleiades from the Digitized Sky Survey
Open cluster.name: Pleiades
Open cluster.epoch: J2000
Open cluster.dist_ly: 444 ly on average
Open cluster.appmag_v: 1.6
Open cluster.size_v: 2°
Open cluster.mass_msol: 800
Open cluster.radius_ly: 20.34 light years
Open cluster.age: 75 to 150 million years
Open cluster.constellation: Taurus
Open cluster.names: Seven Sisters, M45, Cr 42, Mel 22

via Wikipedia infobox

~22 min read

Encyclopedic overview

17 sections

Contents

Origin of name
Astronomical role of M45 in antiquity
Nomenclature and mythology
Subaru
Tolkien's Legendarium
Observational history
Distance
Composition
Members
Age and future evolution
Reflection nebulosity
Possible planets
Gallery
See also
Notes
References
External links

The cluster is dominated by hot blue luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be leftover material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing. This dust cloud is estimated to be moving at a speed of approximately relative to the stars in the cluster.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Pleiades” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.