Deep sky · Open cluster in Taurus · M 45
M 45
Pleiades
The Pleiades, the Seven Sisters: the most famous star cluster in the world, and part of the stories of nearly every culture.
- Type
- Open cluster
- Designations
- M 45
- Constellation
- Taurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 1.2
- Apparent size
- 1.8° × 1.8°
- Position (J2000)
- RA 3h 47m · Dec +24° 07′
Myth
Seven daughters of Atlas, pursued by Orion. Most people can see only six — and from Greece to Aboriginal Australia, stories explain why one sister is missing or hiding.
Other skies
In Japan they are Subaru, the car maker’s logo. For Māori, the rising of Matariki before dawn marks the new year, a national holiday since 2022.
Science
They are young — about 100 million years — and hot and blue. The blue wisps around them in photographs are an unrelated dust cloud they happen to be passing through.