Atlas , designation 27 Tauri, is a triple star system in the constellation of Taurus. It is a member of the Pleiades, an open star cluster ( M45). It is 431 light-years (132 parsecs) away, and is 3.92 degrees north of the ecliptic.

Nomenclature

''27 Tauri'' is the star's Flamsteed designation. In 2016 the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

organized a

Working Group on Star Names The International Astronomical Union (IAU) established a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) in May 2016 to catalog and standardize List of proper names of stars, proper names for stars for the international astronomical community. It operates under ...

(WGSN) to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name ''Atlas'' for this star on 21 August 2016 and it is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names.

Mythology

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...

was a

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

and the father of the Pleiades sisters in

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

Properties

Atlas is a triple star system, with the inner pair orbiting in under a year and the outer star orbiting in 260 years. The outer star, component Ab, has been resolved at a distance of from the unresolved spectroscopic binary. It is too close to have been assigned a spectral class, but has an apparent magnitude of 6.8, three magnitudes fainter than the combined magnitude of the closer pair. Its mass is estimate to be twice that of the Sun. AtlasLightCurve

The inner pair have a well-defined orbit with a period of 291 days, a semi-major axis of , and an eccentricity of 0.24. At an inclination of 108°, it is not thought to show eclipses. Although the two stars cannot be resolved, the primary, component Aa1, is calculated to be 1.6 magnitudes brighter than the secondary, component Aa2. Low amplitude variability of the brightness of Atlas was tentatively detected in observations by STEREO and clearly detected by Kepler/K2. The light curve varies with several periods, the most prominent being 2.427, 0.7457 and 1.214 days.

References

External links

Alcyone ephemeris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atlas (star) B-type giants Tauri, 027 Pleiades Open Cluster Taurus (constellation) Binary stars Suspected variables

Durchmusterung objects

1178 Year 1178 (Roman numerals, MCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 1178th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 178th year of the 2nd millen ...

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