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The cluster is slowly moving in the direction of the feet of what is currently the constellation of Orion. Like most open clusters, the Pleiades will not stay gravitationally bound forever. Some component stars will be ejected after close encounters with other stars; others will be stripped by tidal gravitational fields.
The name Pleiades ostensibly derived from the name of their mother, Pleione, effectively meaning "daughters of Pleione". However, etymologically, the name of the star-cluster likely came first, and Pleione's name indicated that she was the mother of the Pleiades. [ 3 ]
Pleiades seen with the naked eye (upper-left corner). [1]The high visibility of the star cluster Pleiades in the night sky and its position along the ecliptic (which approximates to the Solar System's common planetary plane) has given it importance in many cultures, ancient and modern.
In Greek mythology, Merope / ˈ m ɛr ə p iː / [1] (Ancient Greek: Μερόπη) is one of the seven Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Pleione, their mother, is the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and is the protector of sailors. [2] Their transformation into the star cluster known as the Pleiades is the subject of various myths.
The lyric poet Simonides of Ceos (c. 556–468 BC), is the first (datable) source to connect the name of the star-cluster with the seven daughters of Atlas. [19] The names of the seven Pleiades are first attested in a scholion on Pindar, which quotes three hexameter lines from an unattributed poem, probably from the Hesiodic corpus: [20]
The story of Callisto and Arcas, like that of the Pleiades, is an aition for a stellar formation, the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the Great and Little Bear. Her name is related to μαῖα (maia), an honorific term for older women related to μήτηρ (mētēr) 'mother', [citation needed] also meaning "midwife" in Greek. [12]
The Pleiades. Alcyone (/ æ l ˈ s aɪ. ən iː /; Ancient Greek: Ἀλκυόνη, romanized: Alkyóne), in Greek mythology, was the name of one of the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione or, more rarely, Aethra. [1]
The Pleiades are an open cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus. Pleiades may also refer to: Pleiades (Greek mythology), seven sisters of Greek mythology;