Open star cluster
The Pleiades
Also M45 · Seven Sisters
A bright young star cluster in Taurus, easily seen with the naked eye as a tiny dipper of stars.
Measured
- Distance
- about 444 light-years (published estimates 440–448)
- Size
- about 40 light-years across (approximate)
- Constellation
- Taurus
- Position (J2000)
- RA 3h 46m 38s, Dec +24.18°
How far, from the Sun
About 444 light-years. To cross it:
- Light444 years
- Voyager 1's speed7.89 million years
- Driving at 100 km/h4.79 billion years
Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.
Facts
- It is about 125 million years old, young next to the Sun's 4.6 billion years.
- Galileo counted 36 stars in it through his telescope in 1610.
- Its blue haze is a dust cloud the cluster happens to be passing through.
- Hipparcos measured it closer than other methods did; radio VLBI, then Gaia, put it at about 444 ly.
Where this comes from
- Melis et al. 2014, Science 345, 1029, VLBI parallax (136.2 ± 1.2 pc)
Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.