Anyone who has gazed at the sky has asked himself/herself what that little tight knot of stars was in during the winter. This articles will be focusing on two things:

• What are the Pleiades? What are there story?
• How to get a better look at them.

What are the Pleiades? What are there story?

The Pleiades are an open star cluster located in the constellation of Taurus (the Bull). It is made up of blue stars, which means that they are hot. Astronomers estimate its age at about 100 million years, which is young in terms of stars. The cluster is quite close to the earth (440 light-years), and is made up of about 1400 stars.

The Pleiades are also known as M45 and NGC 1432, but it seems that there have been references to them ever since the Neolithic. However, as most objects in the sky, its name comes from the Greeks, where the Pleiades was the name of the 7 daughters of the Titan god Atlas and Pleioné, because one can usually count seven stars while observing the cluster.

The Cluster has had references in culture: A famous group of French poets called La Pléiade, with poets such as Pierre de Ronsard and Joachim du Bellay. It is also the logo of the car brand Subaru

How to get a better look at them

Given that the cluster is quite spread off, you might have trouble observing Messier 45 with a telescope or refractor, unless you use small magnification. If your telescope is large enough, you might be able to take a glimpse of the Merope Nebula, which has an apparent magnitude of 13. But otherwise, there is not much point of observing the cluster with a telescope. To view a crisp-like image of the nebula, i personally recommend that you use a simple pair of binoculars, as the magnification is low enough for you to see the whole cluster, and because they will still show you more than if you used your eyes

Don’t forget that winter is the best season for observing the pleiades. Good Observing,
Clement

Image Credit: Hubble