Stargazing News - January 1st, 2025
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All on Wed Jan 1 06:21:19 2025
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
The Pleiades (all night)
In the evening during early January, the prominent open star cluster known as the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, is climbing the southeastern sky. The stars of its home constellation Taurus, the Bull will be below the cluster. This year, the brilliant planet Jupiter will be shining about 13 degrees to the east of the cluster. The "sisters" are medium-bright, hot blue stars named Asterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Alcyone. In Greek mythology, those characters were the daughters of Atlas, and half- sisters of the Hyades. They are indeed related - born of the same primordial gas cloud. To the unaided eye, only six of the stars are usually apparent, including their parents Atlas and Pleione huddled together at the east end of the grouping. In binoculars and backyard telescopes, hundreds of fainter stars surround them. Not surprisingly, many cultures, including Aztec, Maori, Sioux, Hindu, and more, have developed stories about those stars. In Japan, it is called Subaru and forms the logo of the eponymous car maker. Due to its shape, the cluster is sometimes confused with the Little Dipper.
(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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