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A Sister in a Little Dipper

5 min · Eve · Quiet listening

Eve

A Sister in a Little Dipper

Eve is reading this story.

Eve is ready

How to say it

Eve can say these names for you.

Tap a name. She will say it slowly.

A winter window looking onto a tiny huddle of blue-white stars.
A tiny huddle. You do not have to find seven. Illustration, Wonder Atlas

Astronomers call them the Pleiades. Many nights you will see six, or five, or four. That is still them. One of those sisters is named Merope. She is a hot, blue-white star, about magnitude four. Many town skies can still hold her.

A blue-white star lighting a faint dusty veil, like a lamp in fog.
Illustration of the veil. Photographs exist. Eyes usually cannot catch it. Illustration, Wonder Atlas. The veil is real, but this picture is a painting, not a telescope photograph.

The dust is not leftover from when she was born. Merope and the cloud are passing one another. You will not see that veil with your eyes. The sisters, you might.

A tiny dipper

How many can your night hold?

You do not have to find seven. The ones you see are enough.

How sure are we?

  • We know

    The Pleiades are a real nearby cluster. Merope is one of the bright members.

  • We know

    The blue veil in photographs is dust reflecting her light, not a leftover cradle.

  • The evidence suggests

    You will usually see about six of the sisters with your eyes from a decent dark place. Very dark skies show more.

Try it when they are up

  1. When the Pleiades are in your evening sky, look for a tiny huddle, like a little dipper.
  2. Do not hunt for seven. Count what you can see. That is the night you have.
  3. If you have binoculars, look again. More sisters pour out. Still not a contest.
  4. You will not see Merope's veil with your eyes. The huddle is the thing to find.
Put it in My Sky
A little more, if you want names

People told a story that Merope hid because she married a mortal. Astronomy does not need that story to find her. She is magnitude about 4.2, blue-white, in Taurus. Subaru, in Japan, is the same huddle. Different names. Same lights.

  • Gaia / standard Pleiades distance ~440 ly.
  • Tempel, 1859, discovery of the Merope Nebula (NGC 1435).
  • SIMBAD: 23 Tau, V ~ 4.17.

If you wondered