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Pleiades
The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Taurus (constellation), Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light-years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and the nearest Messier object to Earth, being the most obvious star cluster to the naked eye in the night sky. It is also observed to house the reflection nebula NGC 1432, an HII region. Around 2330 BC it marked the vernal point. Due to the brightness of its stars, the Pleiades is viewable from most areas on Earth, even in locations with significant light pollution. The cluster is dominated by OB star, hot blue luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be leftover material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NGC 1432
Maia , designated 20 Tauri (abbreviated 20 Tau), is a star in the constellation of Taurus. It is a blue giant of spectral type B8 III, a chemically peculiar star. Maia is the fourth-brightest star in the Pleiades open star cluster (Messier 45), after Alcyone, Atlas and Electra. It is surrounded by one of the brighter reflection nebulae within the Pleiades, designated NGC 1432 and sometimes called the Maia Nebula. Nomenclature The name ''Maia'' originates with the and . Maia is one of the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione in Greek mythology—stars which are also included in the Pleiades star cluster. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included ''Maia'' for this star. It is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open Cluster
An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of tens to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, and many more are thought to exist. Each one is loosely bound by mutual gravity, gravitational attraction and becomes disrupted by close encounters with other clusters and clouds of gas as they orbit the Galactic Center. This can result in a loss of cluster members through internal close encounters and a dispersion into the main body of the galaxy. Open clusters generally survive for a few hundred million years, with the most massive ones surviving for a few billion years. In contrast, the more massive globular clusters of stars exert a stronger gravitational attraction on their members, and can survive for longer. Open clusters have been found only in spiral galaxy, spiral and irregular galaxy, irregular galaxies, in which active star formatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taurus (constellation)
Taurus (Latin, 'Bull') is one of the constellations of the zodiac and is located in the northern celestial hemisphere. Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the Northern Hemisphere's winter sky. It is one of the oldest constellations, dating back to the Early Bronze Age at least, when it marked the location of the Sun during the spring equinox. Its importance to the agricultural calendar influenced sacred bull, various bull figures in the mythologies of Ancient Sumerian religion, Sumer, Akkadian religion, Akkad, Assyrian religion, Assyria, Babylonian religion, Babylon, Ancient Egyptian religion, Egypt, Ancient Greek religion, Greece, and Religion in ancient Rome, Rome. Its old astronomical symbol is (♉︎), which resembles a bull's head. A number of features exist that are of interest to astronomers. Taurus hosts two of the nearest open clusters to Earth, the Pleiades and the Hyades (star cluster), Hyades, both of which are visible to the naked eye. At first magnitu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyades (star Cluster)
The Hyades (; Greek Ὑάδες, also known as Caldwell 41, Collinder 50, or Melotte 25) is the nearest open cluster and one of the best-studied star clusters. Located about away from the Sun, it consists of a roughly spherical group of hundreds of stars sharing the same age, place of origin, chemical characteristics, and motion through space. From the perspective of observers on Earth, the Hyades Cluster appears in the constellation Taurus, where its brightest stars form a "V" shape along with the still-brighter Aldebaran. However, Aldebaran is unrelated to the Hyades, as it is located much closer to Earth (65 light-years) and merely happens to lie along the same line of sight. The five brightest member stars of the Hyades have consumed the hydrogen fuel at their cores and have evolved into giant stars. Four of these stars, with Bayer designations Gamma, Delta1, Epsilon, and Theta2 Tauri, form an asterism that is traditionally identified as the head of Taurus the Bull. The f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collinder Catalogue
The Collinder catalogue is a catalogue of 471 open clusters compiled by Swedish astronomer Per Collinder. It was published in 1931 as an appendix to Collinder's paper ''On structural properties of open galactic clusters and their spatial distribution''. The catalogue contains 452 open clusters, 11 globular clusters, 6 Asterism (astronomy), asterisms, 1 Stellar kinematics#Moving groups, stellar moving group, and 1 Stellar kinematics#Stellar associations, stellar association. Catalogue objects are denoted by ''Collinder'', e.g. "Collinder 399". Dated prefixes include as ''Col + catalogue number'', or ''Cr + catalogue number'', e.g. "Cr 399". Collinder objects Notes Errors There are some errors in Collinder's list or references to it. For example:Archinal, B. A., and S. J. Hynes. 2003. ''Star Clusters'', Richmond, VA: Willmann-Bell * Cr 21, NGC 956, 27, NGC 1746, 57, NGC 6738, 396, Collinder 399, 399, and Messier 73, 426 are asterism (astronomy), asterisms. * Cr 32, 33, and 34 a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Golden Gate Of The Ecliptic
The Golden Gate of the Ecliptic is an asterism (astronomy), asterism in the constellation Taurus (constellation), Taurus that has been known for several thousand years. The Asterism (astronomy), asterism is formed of the two eye-catching open star clusters, the Pleiades and the Hyades (star cluster), Hyades that form the posts of a virtual gate on either side of the ecliptic line. Since all planets as well as the Moon and the Sun always move very closely along the virtual circle of the ecliptic, all these seven orbiting bodies regularly pass through the Golden Gate of the Ecliptic. Since the Moon is the closest of these heavenly bodies to the Earth and it is inclination, inclined at a high enough angle to the ecliptic, on some occasions, the Moon can cover the stars of the open star clusters or even pass outside the Gate. Mars.im.Goldenen.Tor.der.Ekliptik.P1025010.jpg, From lower left to upper right: Sirius (Canis majoris), Orion (constellation), constellation Orion, Taurus (con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Cluster
A star cluster is a group of stars held together by self-gravitation. Two main types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters, tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound; and open clusters, less tight groups of stars, generally containing fewer than a few hundred members. As they move through the galaxy, over time, open clusters become disrupted by the gravitational influence of giant molecular clouds, so that the clusters we observe are often young. Even though they are no longer gravitationally bound, they will continue to move in broadly the same direction through space and are then known as stellar associations, sometimes referred to as ''moving groups''. Globular clusters, with more members and more mass, remain intact for far longer and the globular clusters we observe are usually billions of years old. Star clusters visible to the naked eye include the Pleiades and Hyades (star cluster), Hyades open clusters, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melotte Catalogue
The Melotte catalogue is a catalogue of 245 star clusters compiled by British astronomer Philibert Jacques Melotte. It was published in 1915 as ''A Catalogue of Star Clusters shown on Franklin-Adams Chart Plates''.Melotte, P. J"A Catalogue of Star Clusters shown on Franklin-Adams Chart Plates" ''MmRAS'', 1915 Catalogue objects are denoted by ''Melotte'', e.g. "Melotte 20". Dated prefixes include as ''Mel + catalogue number'', e.g. "Mel 20". The catalogue contains 161 open clusters, 81 globular clusters, two Asterism (astronomy), asterisms, and one galaxy. Melotte objects Errors There are some errors in Melotte's list: * NGC 1746, Mel 28 and NGC 1807, 29 are Asterism (astronomy), asterisms. * The elliptical galaxy, elliptical or lenticular galaxy, lenticular galaxy NGC 2314, Mel 57 was mistaken for a globular cluster. See also *List of astronomical catalogues *Collinder catalogue - a similar catalogue of open star clusters published by Per Collinder in 1931. *Robert Julius Trump ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messier Object
The Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his ' (''Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters''). Because Messier was interested only in finding comets, he created a list of those non-comet objects that frustrated his hunt for them. This list, which Messier created in collaboration with his assistant Pierre Méchain, is now known as the ''Messier catalogue''. The Messier catalogue is one of the most famous lists of astronomical objects, and many objects on the list are still referenced by their Messier numbers. The catalogue includes most of the astronomical deep-sky objects that can be easily observed from Earth's Northern Hemisphere; many Messier objects are popular targets for amateur astronomers. A preliminary version of the catalogue first appeared in 1774 in the ''Memoirs'' of the French Academy of Sciences for the year 1771. The first version of Messier's catalogue contained 45 objects, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parsec
The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to or (AU), i.e. . The parsec unit is obtained by the use of parallax and trigonometry, and is defined as the distance at which 1 AU subtended angle, subtends an angle of one arcsecond ( of a degree (angle), degree). The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is about from the Sun: from that distance, the gap between the Earth and the Sun spans slightly less than one arcsecond. Most Naked-eye stars, stars visible to the naked eye are within a few hundred parsecs of the Sun, with the most distant at a few thousand parsecs, and the Andromeda Galaxy at over 700,000 parsecs. The word ''parsec'' is a shortened form of ''a distance corresponding to a parallax of one second'', coined by the British astronomer Herbert Hall Turner in 1913. The unit was introduced to simplify the calculation of astronomical distances from raw observational data. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asterism (astronomy)
An asterism is an observational astronomy, observed pattern or group of stars in the sky. Asterisms can be any identified star pattern, and therefore are a more general concept than the IAU designated constellations, 88 formally defined constellations. Constellations are based upon asterisms, but unlike asterisms, constellations are defined regions with official boundaries which together encompass the entire sky. Asterisms range from simple shapes of just a few stars to more complex collections of many stars covering large portions of the sky. The stars themselves may be bright naked-eye objects or fainter, even telescopic, but they are generally all of a similar brightness to each other. The larger brighter asterisms are useful for people who are familiarizing themselves with the night sky. The patterns of stars seen in asterisms are not necessarily a product of any physical association between the stars, but are rather the result of the particular perspectives of their observ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
