What’s Out Tonight?

Pleiades

The Pleiades or Seven Sisters is one of the very few cluster of stars that can be viewed with the naked eyes. It is very small and sorta looks like a "little dipper" BUT it is not THE Little Dipper. 

BEST 
viewed 
with 
Binoculars

The Pleiades. You can easily see the stars with your eyes but not the blue “clouds.”

SCROLL DOWN to the very bottom of this page to see a realistic photo of what the Pleiades looks like in the sky with your eyes during November/December.

Best Months to Comfortably Observe
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1) From November to December, look due east. It gets higher in the sky as December progresses.
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2) From February to March, look due west and it gets lower in the sky as March progresses.
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It is very high in the sky from late December to late January, making it awkward to observe.

Some “FUN” facts about the Pleiades
1. It is technically part of the constellation Taurus.
2. You can easily cover it with a dime held at arms length.
3. It is one of the closest cluster of stars to us.
4. All of these stars formed out of the same nebula cloud, like the Orion nebula. This cloud has since disappiated. Astronomers believe that the blue cloud surrounding the Pleiades stars is a cloud that the stars are passing through. It is difficult to see this cloud in a small telescope and it only appears as a dull white smudge.

Greek Mythology+
The Pleiades or Seven Sisters are the daughters of Atlas and Pleione. They were changed into doves and sent into the heavens as stars to avoid the amorous clutches of Orion. Thus, the Seven Sisters always rise before Orion, forever escaping him.
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A Native American legend also has Seven Sisters who longed to wander among the stars, lost their way home and huddled together so as not to get separated. The seventh star is difficult to see and in both stories it is said that crying blurs its brightness. 
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The Hyades (a V-formation of stars that make up Taurus the Bull and which are very close to the Pleiades) are piglets and the half-sisters of the Pleiades, all having Atlas as their father. Together, they make up the 14 Atlantides which reside in Taurus.  

Facts
In the Constellation of:  Taurus
Distance:  444 light years
Number of stars:  A good 1000
Approximate age:  75 to 150 million years
SIZES:  1. Spans about 1.5° in the sky—equivalent to three Moon diameters (the Arc degrees size).  2. Actually spans about 16 light years in diameter for all the brightest stars. Remember, a light year is a unit of length and is nearly 6 trillion miles—the distance light will travel in one year’s time.
Designations:  The Pleiades is technically known as an “Open Cluster” of stars (a group of stars born out of the same nebula cloud) and as such is classified as a Deep Sky Object and is listed in a few catalogues of similar objects. It is designated M45 in the famous Messier catalogue from the 1700s that is still used today.

A drawing by Galileo of the Pleiades. He was the first person to observe the Pleiades with a telescope (that he made) and plot fainter stars that make up this cluster.​ His accuracy was not great (and, his drawing of the Moon was terrible) but if you ever looked through his type of telescope and considering his mount/tripod, it is amazing what he was able to plot/draw.

Location of the Pleiades
Click on this image for an enlarged view of the chart showing the location of the Pleiades in relationship to surrounding constellations. All the M numbers are catalogue designations for various celestial objects. And, the Greek letters are designations of the various stars.

Names of the Pleiades Stars

Name,  Designation,  Magnitude,  DIstance in Light Years

Alcyone,  Eta Tauri or 25 Tauri,  2.86,  409±50 ly 
Asterope or Sterope ,  21 Tauri,  5.64,  431±7.5 ly
Celaeno,  16 Tauri, 5.44,  434±10 ly
Electra,  17 Tauri,  3.70,  375±23 ly
Maia,  20 Tauri,  3.86,  344±25 ly
Merope,  23 Tauri,  4.17,  344±16 ly
Taygeta,  19 Tauri,  4.29,  364±16 ly
Atlas ,  27 Tauri,  3.62,  387±26 ly
Pleione ,  28 Tauri, 5.1,  422±11 ly

Notes
1. Atlas and Pleione are the parents of the Seven Sisters.
2. Asterope is also known as Sterope. 
3. Pleione is a variable star and thus changes in brightness from magnitude 4.77 to 5.5 where 4.77 is when it is the brightest.
4. One light year (ly) is nearly 6 trillion miles.

The Seven Sisters are in yellow. Atlas and Pleione, in pink, are the parents of the Seven Sisters. Asterope is also known as Sterope.

Realistic View of Pleiades in the Sky

The little “knot” of stars in the middle of this “black box” is the Pleiades and it is a realistic depiction of this cluster of stars as seen in the sky during November—facing East. It will appear small in the sky as it appears here. This is an actual photo taken with my iPhone. I did not try to make this photo look pretty but was trying to achieve a natural look for many US skies. The V of 6 stars below the Pleiades is the Hyades which is part of Taurus the Bull.