The Pleiades

The Pleiades ( PLEE-ə-deez, PLAY-, PLY-), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an asterism of an open star cluster containing young B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light-years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and the nearest Messier object to Earth, being the most obvious star cluster to the naked eye in the night sky. It contains the reflection nebulae NGC 1432, an HII region, and NGC 1435, known as the Merope Nebula. Around 2330 BC the Pleiades marked the vernal point. Due to the brightness of its stars, the Pleiades is viewable from most areas on Earth, even in locations with significant light pollution. The cluster is dominated by hot blue luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be leftover material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium
Elevation: 1080 m
Country: Australia
Explore topics:
- The Pleiades hiking routes
- The Pleiades best routes
- The Pleiades camping
- The Pleiades parking
- The Pleiades car park
- The Pleiades difficulty
- The Pleiades family friendly
- The Pleiades dog friendly
- The Pleiades sunrise hike
- The Pleiades sunset hike