The Pleiades (The Seven Sisters)

The Pleiades or Seven Sisters (Messier Object M45) is a famous open star cluster found within the borders of Taurus, the Bull (FCPS Starfinder, No. 4, Southern Sky). The group is 541 light years away. All of the names of the Pleiades are Greek. Subaru is the Japanese word for the Pleiades.

Only six stars (out of several hundred!) in the Pleiades are easily visible with the unaided eye. There are many stories about what happened to the seventh one. In reality, the star called Celaeno is too dim to see (just at the limit of human vision in terms of brightness). For more information about the Pleiades, read the transcript of Venus and the Pleiades, the 13 April 1999 StarDate, the daily astronomy-related radio program produced by the McDonald Observatory, University of Texas (ignore the outdated information regarding the Moon).

Associated Mythology - The Pleiades were the seven daughters of Atlas, the Titan who holds up the sky. All but one married gods; she was so ashamed, she hasn't shown her light since. For more information about mythology related to the Pleiades, read the transcript of Mercury and the Pleiades, the 01 May 1996 StarDate program (ignore the outdated information regarding Mercury).

Aries, the Ram

Aries (AIR-ee-eez) is the first constellation of the Zodiac for birthdates from 21 March to 19 April. Aries makes a small, flattened triangle located halfway between the bright stars Aldebaran (Letter "H," Taurus, No. 4) and Alpheratz (Letter "R," Andromeda, No. 17).

Associated Mythology - The myth of the ram with the golden fleece in which Jason and the Argonauts recover the golden fleece. Shape taken by Jupiter to escape from Mount Olympus when it was invaded by the Titans.

Credits: CoM entries excerpted from Your Guide to the Constellations, by Lowell L. Koontz, former Planetarium Teacher at Edison High School, Fairfax County Public Schools.

CoM | SCSA Home | Geoscience-Related Information Servers | Geosystems in FCPS