Messier 45(The Pleiades)

Pleiades - Messier 45

Messier 45 also known as The Pleiades and Seven Sisters and many other names in different culture.

This is an open cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-Type Stars in the north-west constellation of Taurus at the distance of 444 million years light years, and the nearest star cluster to the Earth. Pleiades is also the nearest messier object to the Earth. This can be seen through naked eyes in the night sky.

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 left over material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing. This dust cloud is estimated to be moving at a speed of approximately 18 km/s relative to the stars in the cluster.

Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades were probably formed from a compact configuration that resembled the Orion Nebula. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood.

Origin of the name:

Together with the open star cluster of the Hyades, the Pleiades form the Golden Gate of the Ecliptic.The name of the Pleiades comes from Ancient Greek: Πλειάδες. It probably derives from plein ("to sail") because of the cluster's importance in delimiting the sailing season in the Mediterranean Sea: "the season of navigation began with their heliacal rising". However, in mythology the name was used for the Pleiades, seven divine sisters, the name supposedly deriving from that of their mother Pleione and effectively meaning "daughters of Pleione". In reality, the name of the star cluster almost certainly came first, and Pleione was invented to explain it.

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