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Why "Seven" Sisters?
By Jeff Kanipe
posted: 06:06 am ET
14 February 2000
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skywatch2Tuesday, February 15 High overhead, as dusk turns to dark, the eye catches upon a tiny nexus of stars. In binoculars, they're a lovely sight, looking like a scattering of diamond chips on black velvet. In the catalog of French comet hunter Charles Messier, these stars are known collectively as M 45. Classically, they are known as the Pleiades or the "seven sisters." In fact, most cultures from Australia to the American southwest refer to the Pleiades as the seven-"something-or-others." The reason most often given for this is that the number seven is sacred in many religions. The Hindus provide one of the rare exceptions by referring to the Pleiades as the six nurses who cared for Agni, the Hindu God of Fire and one of the sons of Siva. Our astronomy software program, Starry Night, labels the six brightest Pleiads with their traditional Greek appellations. One of the labeled members, Atlas, according to Greek myth, is father to the Pleiades and obviously doesn't qualify as a sister. The other non-sister is, Pleione, wife of Atlas and mother to the sisters. (She is the un-labeled star above and to the right of Atlas on our chart.) The remaining five labeled members are true sisters: Maia, Electra, Alcyone, Merope and Taygeta. That leaves two more un-labeled sisters to account for. They are: Sterope (the brighter of the two stars above Maia and Taygeta) and Celaeno (between Taygeta and Electra). So there are indeed seven sisters -- five of whom shine brightly, and two who do not -- as well as the two parents. According to ancient star lore, the seventh sister -- we're not sure which one -- married a mere mortal, and for this reason shines less brightly than her sisters. Another version relates that it is the youngest of the Pleiades that is difficult to see because she is so homesick for Earth she weeps nightly, thus dulling the sparkling of her eyes with tears. Personally, I see six stars, but I don't rule out the presence of a seventh, depending on the varying clarity of the atmosphere and the fluctuating keenness of my eyes these days. It's just that I'm not as certain about it. Perhaps interpreting the Pleiades as a group of seven entities springs from some sort of anthropological drive, man's need to project his imagination into the sky to satisfy some religious or cultural principle. In any case, the Pleiades represent a kind of celestial Rorschach test. Exactly how many stars do you see? Jeff Kanipe is the author of A Skywatcher's Year, an astronomy guide just published by Cambridge University Press. He is a former editor at Astronomy and StarDate magazines and a writer for the Earth & Sky radio series.Reprints courtesy of Sienna Software, makers of Starry Night Pro software. For a free trial version of Starry Night contact Sienna Software.
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