Aster › Space program › The Pleiades (M45)
The Pleiades (M45)
Position on the route: 153/181 · level needed 2200 · journey (Mk0 engine) 403.7 h
By the numbers
| Distance | ≈ 444 light-years |
|---|---|
| Age | ≈ 100 million years |
| Stars | over 1,000 |
| Width | ≈ 43 light-years |
The story
The Pleiades, in Taurus, are the ‘Seven Sisters’, of which about seven are picked out by the naked eye. In truth a young, hot, blue open cluster of hundreds to a thousand stars, born about 100 million years ago and about 444 light-years away.
The blue reflection nebula around them is not the cluster’s birth cloud but a dust cloud the cluster is passing through. Ancient cultures used it for the calendar and navigation; Japan’s ‘Subaru’ is named after it. Gaia has pinned down its distance with high accuracy.
Missions
- Hipparcos, Gaia: distance and motions
- Hubble: the young stars
Colony note
No surface; a station at the cluster’s edge.
☠ A cluster of young, hot, blue stars: no surface to land on. A station at the cluster’s edge.
What probes bring back
- About 444 light-years away: the ‘Seven Sisters’ in Taurus, seven stars to the naked eye, in truth an open cluster of hundreds of young stars (about 100 million years old).
- The blue reflection nebula around them is not their birth cloud but a dust cloud the cluster is passing through. Japan’s ‘Subaru’ takes its name from this cluster.