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Astronomy |
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M45 - Pleiades |
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AKA The Seven Sisters.
Open Cluster M45 , Type 'C', in Taurus
RA 03:47.0 (h:m) Dec +24:07 (deg:m)
Distance: 380 Light Years
Embedded in blue-colored reflection nebulae and visible to the naked eye.
(Photo: Palomar Sky Survey)
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The brightest star by itself in the middle of the photo is Alcyone. Although
this cluster is called the seven sisters and has nine named stars, when
viewing with the naked eye you can usually only see 6 (noted in bold),
or sometimes fewer stars depending on viewing conditions. The brighter
star at the left on the photo is Atlas, and the one just above it is Pleione, who depending on which mythology
you read were the father and mother of the seven daughters. The seven daughters
in order of brightness are Alcyone, Electra, Maia, Mereope, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Sterope. Actually there are 20 or more stars in the cluster,
the rest of which do not have names. In the cases where two or more stars
are close together, they may appear to look like only one. Also there is
the reflection nebula which blends the light making it hard to pick out
the individual stars, which in my opinion mostly accounts for why you can
only see the five or six brighter stars with the naked eye. Without binoculars,
I always wonder if I am actually seeing the individual stars, or the blending
effects of the nebula. |
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The Pleiades cluster is easy to find. Just follow line of Orion's belt
through Taurus towards Aries. |
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FUN FACT:
Think - Feel - Drive ?
The Japanese name for the Pleiades is Subaru,
thus the car (and blue colored logo) of the same name.
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Finding Your Way in the Cosmos
Indy's Astronomy Glossary |
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Constellation Java Applet |
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This program shows you the stars and constellations in "Star Chart" format.
Click on the chart to view the RA and Dec of a star or constellation.
Use the scroll bars to move the sky.
Java Applet by Chris Dolan
dolan@astro.wisc.edu.
For problems while viewing this Applet, try Site Help |
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Sidereal Clocks
Send me your location and Longitude, and I will try to add a link in my Object Catalog Index to a custom clock for you.
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Sidereal time is the hour angle of the vernal equinox, the ascending node of the
ecliptic on the celestial equator. The daily motion of this point provides
a measure of the rotation of the Earth with respect to the stars, rather
than the Sun. Astronomers use local sidereal time because it corresponds
to the coordinate right ascension of a celestial body that is presently
on the local meridian. This Javascript gets the current UTC time from your
computer and calculates the Greenwich Mean Sidereal Time (GMST), and then
adds an offset in longitude to compute Local Sidereal Time (LST).
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Sample Local Sidereal Clock Javascript
Local Sidereal Clocks for Other Locations...Object Catalog Index |
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For more on constellations, stars, meteors, etc., check out...
Indy's Object Catalog - Catalog Index |
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Mz3, The Ant Nebula |
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Astronomy Links |
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Welcome to the Virtual Sky! |
Your Sky |
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AstroWeb: Astronomy resources on the Internet |
Mount Wilson Observatory |
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Hubble Heritage Project: Astronomy |
Kitt Peak National Observatory |
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The STScI Digitized Sky Survey |
Palomar Observatory: Public Site |
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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
Lowell Observatory Home Page |
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Gary W. Kronk's Comets and Meteor Showers |
Griffith Observatory Home Page |
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U.S. Naval Observatory Sidereal Time Calculator |
Palomar Observatory: Observers' Site |
