The **Pleiades** (also called the **Seven Sisters**) is one of the most famous open star clusters in the night sky. Here's a quick rundown:
### The basics
- **Location:** In the constellation **Taurus**, about 410–440 light-years away
- **What it is:** A young open cluster of hot, blue stars, roughly 100 million years old
- **Naked-eye appearance:** Six or seven stars are visible to most people; with good eyes and dark skies, more appear
- **Brightest stars:** Named after the seven sisters of Greek myth — Alcyone, Maia, Electra, Merope, Taygete, Celaeno, and Asterope (with parents Atlas and Pleione nearby)
### Why it matters
- **A key distance marker:** Because the stars are young and well-studied, astronomers use the Pleiades to calibrate the cosmic distance scale.
- **The "lost" sister:** Though called the Seven Sisters, most people only see six — the seventh (Merope) is often cited as the "lost" one (though it's really about eyesight and conditions).
- **Mythology:** In Greek myth, the sisters were pursued by Orion and placed in the sky. The cluster is referenced across many cultures — Japanese *Subaru* (the car brand's logo), Indigenous Australian star knowledge, and more.
- **The surrounding nebulosity:** The blue glow around the cluster is a reflection nebula — dust scattering light from the hot stars, not gas the stars are forming from.
### When to see it
In the **Northern Hemisphere**, it's best in **autumn and winter** — visible from roughly October through April, high in the evening sky in winter. Look for Taurus and the bright orange star Aldebaran nearby.
