the Pleiades Star cluster is in the constellation of Taurus and in the scheme of the galaxy, is a relatively young stellar cluster within an age of 100 million years, approx. 440 (T) average light years from Terra. It is one of a handful of objects in the heavens that never fail to amaze and inspire even the most experienced observers and contains many bright blue and blue-white stars. There are a few more evolved stars that have swelled and turned yellow or orange.

Sometimes Called the Seven Sisters

It has many names in many cultures and is sometimes called the Seven Sisters, the Starry Seven, and the Seven Atlantic Sisters, the stars of the small dipper-shaped cluster take their names from the ancient Greek god ATLAS, his wife Pleione, and their seven daughtrs. The star Atlas marks the handle of the dipper shaped cluster. The stars Alcyone, Maia, Electra, Taygeta and Merope form the small bowl.

Near Atlas lies Pleione, his wife of mythology. The fainter star Sterope (sometimes called Asterope) forms an equilateral triangle with Maia, and the star Celaeno lies between Taygeta and Electra. In the Mediterranean world, the cluster took its name from pleiad, the ancient Greek word for sail since its appearance in the morning spring sky heralded the beginning of the sailing season.

As such a prominent star cluster, one that lies near the ecliptic, the Pleiades has been known since the dawn of history by cultures all over the world. A study of the mythologies based on these stars and their appearance in literature around the world make for fascinating reading. Here are some examples:

  • Polynesian peoples called them matarii or matariki (little eyes) and held that they were once a single star split into six during a battle among the gods.
  • Medieval northern European cultures, including the Vikings, presumably occupied with the essentials of life, rather than poetry, called them the Hen and her Chicks.
  • Kiowa and Cheyenne of the American great plains believed these stars were seven maidens placed into the sky and protected them from harm by the Devil’s Tower (in Wyoming).
  • Finnish and Lithuanian stargazers saw them as a sieve or net (in Tolkien’s The Hobbit, they were called The Netted Stars.
  • the Quechua and other cultures in the Andes called them the Storehouse, since their appearance in the morning sky in May.
  • In Japan, these stars were called subaru, which means unity (the Subaru car company was named when five smaller firms merged into a larger sixth firm, Fuji Heavy Industries.
  • In Canada these stars are known to the Blackfoot first Natin as the Orphan boys, fatherless boys rejected by their tribe and befriended by a pack of wolves who became their only companions.