The famed Pleiades, or Seven Sisters star cluster, lies 400 light
years away in the constellation Taurus.
Wisps from a cloud of
interstellar gas and dust through which the cluster is now
passing are prominent around the brighter stars.
North is up and a bit to the right. The major stars make a "Dipper"
figure. Atlas (the brighter) and Pleione are in the handle to the
upper left, The bowl is made of Alcyone (Eta Tauri) just to the upper
right of center, then counterclockwise we see Merope (enmeshed in the complex
cloud), Electra, and Maia. Up and to the right of Maia is a pair
called Sterope II (the fainter) and Sterope I. Taygeta is to the right of
Maia, Celaeno farther down. With no proper name, 18 Tauri floats toward the
upper left edge. Filled with class B stars, the cluster is estimated to be around
130 million years old. Photo by Mark Killion.