|
|
Pleiades
|
Pleiades
A color-composite image of the Pleiades from the Digitized Sky Survey
Credit: NASA/ESA/AURA/Caltech
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation
Taurus
Right ascension
3h 47m 24s
Declination
+24° 7'
Distance
444 ly on average (136.2±1.2 pc)
Apparent magnitude (V)
1.6
Apparent dimensions (V)
110' (arcmin.)
Physical characteristics
Other designations
M45, Seven Sisters, Melotte 22
See also: Open cluster, List of open clusters
In astronomy, the Pleiades (/'pla??di?z/ or /'pli??di?z/), or Seven Sisters (Messier 45 or M45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. The celestial entity has several meanings in different cultures and traditions.The cluster is dominated by hot blue and extremely luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Dust that forms a faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster (hence the alternative name Maia Nebula after the star Maia), but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium, through which the stars are currently passing. Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades was probably formed from a compact configuration that resembled the Orion Nebula. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood.
^ a b c d e "SIMBAD Astronomical Database". Results for M45. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
^ Cite error: The named reference vanleeuwen09 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference majaess11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Percival was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Zwahlen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ a b Messier 45
^ Kroupa, Pavel; Aarseth, Sverre; Hurley, Jarrod (2001). "The formation of a bound star cluster: From the Orion nebula cluster to the Pleiades". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 321 (4): 699–712. arXiv:astro-ph/0009470. Bibcode:2001MNRAS.321..699K. doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04050.x.
^ Gendler, Robert (2006). A Year in the Life of the Universe: A Seasonal Guide to Viewing the Cosmos. Voyageur Press. p. 54. ISBN 1610603400.
|
|
Created By:
System
|
|
|
|
|