Pleiades (also called as M45 in Messier’s list) is the brightest open constellation in the night sky. It is located in Taurus constellation, close to Orion constellation. Pleiades is the brightest deep sky object it can easily be spotted without a telescope or binoculars. Because of that Pleiades has “always” been known. The first writings about Pleiades are from about 750 B.C. by Homeros. The Bible refers to Pleiades three times.

Pleiades has been recognized as a constellation for long time. John Michel calculated that the probability for Pleiades being randomly formed is 1:496 000. Based on this he assumed that the Pleiades is a real constellation. Later Charles Messier added Pleiades into his list. Because of this Pleiades is also called as M45.

Pleiades is known in many cultures, starting from Creek mythology in which Pleiades is understood as Seven Sisters who were chased by Orion. American Indians believed the Pleiades were seven boys who got lost while walking in the sky. In Japan the constellation is called as Subaru, which is also the name of a well-known car maker.

When observed without a telescope or binoculars, one can recognize 6-9 stars in Pleiades, depending on sky conditions. With binoculars one can see 11-14 stars. Pleiades can be observed with a telescope as well, but it is best observed with binoculars. The reason is that with a telescope you cannot see the whole constellation anymore due to higher magnification.

So, where is Pleiades? How could you locate Pleiades? See the figure on left side. Pleiades is very easy to locate. First of all, find Orion constellation which we have already discussed a couple of times in my earlier articles. As soon as you have located Orion, find Aldebaran which is the main star of Taurus constellation. I have not yet described how to locate Taurus, but it is very easy to locate. If you are observing in northern hemisphere, print the picture on left side and go out with it. Find Orion and place the picture above your head, upper edge pointed towards North. You should easily find the bright main star of Taurus next to Orion’s up right corner (Bellatrix star). After this “draw a line” in your mind from Orion’s main star Betelgeuse to the main star of Taurus (Aldebaran). Continue the line almost two times longer. Now you should see a number of stars close to each others, positioned closed to the tip of your “line”. You have now located Pleiades.

Pleiades is an interesting object because it has many bright stars close to each others. Pleiades can be seen in winters in northern hemisphere. Wear warm clothes, take your binoculars, print out this article and the picture and head to a good place for observing Pleiades! Pleiades photo and map are borrowed from Wikipedia. Pleiades star chart is created by author by using Cartes du Ciel software.