![Bright nebulosity in the Pleiades (M45, NGC 1432), distance 490 light-years.[Credits : Hale Observatories ©1961]](http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/58/2958-003-269FE4F2.gif)
(catalog number M45), open cluster of stars in the zodiacal constellation Taurus, about 410 light-years from the solar system. It contains a large amount of bright nebulous material and several hundred stars, of which six or seven can be seen by the unaided eye and have figured prominently in the myths and literature of many cultures. In Greek mythology the Seven Sisters (Alcyone, Maia, Electra, Merope, Taygete, Celaeno, and Sterope, names now assigned to individual stars), daughters of Atlas and Pleione, were changed into the stars. The heliacal (near dawn) rising of the Pleiades in spring of the Northern Hemisphere has marked from ancient times the opening of seafaring and farming seasons, as the morning setting of the group in autumn signified the seasons’ ends. Some South American Indians use the same word for “Pleiades” and “year.”
The cluster was first examined telescopically by Galileo, who found more than 40 members; it was first photographed by Paul and Prosper Henry in 1885.
Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.
If you think a reference to this article on "Pleiades (astronomy)" will enhance your Web site,
blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article,
and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.
You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.