Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
See also: Open cluster, List of open clusters The Pleiades ( / ˈ p l iː . ə d iː z , ˈ p l eɪ -, ˈ p l aɪ -/ ), [ 8 ] [ 9 ] 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 .
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]
In Greek mythology, Sterope (/ ˈ s t ɛr ə p iː /; Ancient Greek: Στερόπη, [sterópɛː], from στεροπή, steropē, lightning), [1] also called Asterope (Ἀστερόπη), was one of the seven Pleiades.
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]
Sterope (or Asterope), one of the Pleiades and the wife of Oenomaus (or his mother by Ares). [2] Sterope, a Pleuronian princess as the daughter of King Pleuron and Xanthippe. She was the sister of Agenor, Stratonice and Laophonte. [3] Sterope, a Calydonian princess as the daughter of King Porthaon and Euryte or Laothoe. [4]