Brightest Stars – The Seven Sisters! (Pleiades)

Brightest Stars – The Seven Sisters! (Pleiades)

The nine brightest stars of the Pleiades are named for the Seven Sisters of Greek mythology: Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Alcyone, along with their parents Atlas and Pleione. As daughters of Atlas, the Hyades were sisters of the Pleiades. The English name of the cluster itself is of Greek origin (Πλειάδες), though of uncertain etymology. Suggested derivations include: from πλεῖν plein, “to sail”, making the Pleiades the “sailing ones”; from πλέος pleos, “full, many”; or from πελειάδες peleiades, “flock of doves”.

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