![]() Our celebration of Halloween originates from an old Druid rite that coincided with the Pleiades reaching the highest point in the sky at midnight. ![]() Appearing in the morning sky before sunrise, the Pleiades announced the opening of the navigation season in the ancient Mediterranean world. Historically, the highly visible star cluster served as a calendar for many civilizations. Some of the different names, for the Pleiades, are “Seven Maidens,” “Seven Little Girls” or “Hens and Chicks.” In Japan, the Pleiades were known as Subaru, which means “coming together.” The name was adopted by the car manufacturer whose logo represents the five companies that merged into a larger sixth firm. Imagine all the different cultures that gazed at this star cluster. The Pleiades is visible virtually everywhere on Earth, from the North Pole to the southernmost tip of South America. Grab a pair of binoculars and I think you will agree that the Pleiades is a phenomenal sight to see. Most of us will see six stars in a more light polluted area but if you can head out to a darker site you may see more than seven. By month’s end the Pleiades will be viewable around 8 pm. As you look east, around 10 p.m., at the beginning of the month, you will spot what looks like a mini dipper. ![]() There are more than 800 stars in this beautiful cluster.Īs we head through the month of October, the Pleiades will rise earlier each night. Hot stars like the ones in the Pleiades cluster burn out quickly with a life span of a few hundred million years. ![]() They are hot B-type, middle aged blue stars that are extremely luminous, many shine hundreds of times brighter than our Sun. The stars in this open cluster were born around the same time in a gigantic cloud of gas and dust, located 430 light years from Earth. One the loveliest sights in our autumnal night sky is the Pleiades star cluster! The Pleiades, known as the seven sisters or Messier 45, is an open star cluster located in the constellation Taurus, the Bull. ![]()
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