Pleiades

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https://www.star-facts.com/taygeta/

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The **Pleiades** have been known to cultures across the globe since at least the Bronze Age. The oldest depiction of the cluster was found on the Nebra sky disk, a Bronze Age artifact dating back to around 1600 BCE. The cluster was also mentioned in a number of ancient texts, including the Bible, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and Hesiod’s Works and Days.

The mythical Pleiades were pursued by Orion, a giant huntsman who saw his opportunity after Atlas was condemned to carry the heavens on his shoulders. Zeus stepped in to protect the sisters and turned them first into doves and then into stars to comfort their father. Orion constellation still appears to be pursuing the sisters across the sky.

The star Taygeta (pronunciation: /teɪˈɪdʒɪtə/) was named after one of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of the sea nymph Pleione and the Titan Atlas. In mythology, Taygete (Greek: Ταϋγέτη) and her sisters were companions of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. Taygete was pursued by Zeus and she turned to Artemis for protection. The goddess turned her into a doe with golden horns. According to some sources, Taygete was the mother of Eurotas, king of Laconia, and of Lacedaemon, the founder of Sparta, by Zeus. In Greek lore, Eurotas left his kingdom to Lacedaemon, who renamed it after his wife, Sparta.

Taygeta and other Pleiades are very easy to find because they belong to one of the most conspicuous open star clusters in the sky. The Pleiades cluster is easily spotted on its own because it appears as a bright bunch of grapes near Orion, but it can also be located using the three stars of Orion’s Belt, Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. The cluster lies on the imaginary line extended from the Belt stars past the bright Aldebaran.

The Pleiades can be observed from October to April, when the cluster is high above the horizon. In May and June, it stays too close to the Sun and is invisible to observers at night. Taygeta is located in the constellation Taurus. Occupying an area of 797 square degrees, Taurus is one of the largest northern constellations, as well as one of the oldest. It is one of the Greek constellations, first listed by the Greco-Roman astronomer Ptolemy in his Almagest in the 2nd century CE, but it has been known to observers well before Ptolemy’s time.

## Taygeta

Taygeta, 19 Tauri Aa (19 Tau Aa), is a subgiant star located in the constellation Taurus. It is one of the brightest members of the Pleiades cluster (Messier 45). The star has an apparent magnitude of 4.30 and lies at an approximate distance of 440 light years from Earth.

Taygeta is part of a binary star system designated 19 Tauri A. It has the stellar classification B6IV, indicating a subgiant star appearing blue-white in colour. The star has an effective temperature of 13,400 K and is about 600 times more luminous than the Sun. It has 4.5 times the Sun’s mass and has begun to evolve away from the main sequence.

19 Tauri A is a spectroscopic binary whose components are separated by only 0.012 seconds of arc. The two stars complete an orbit every 1,313 days (3.6 years) with an average separation of 4.6 astronomical units. The companion is considerably fainter, with an apparent magnitude of 6.1. It is believed to also be a class B star with about 3.2 solar masses and a luminosity 150 times that of the Sun.

The binary companions are designated 19 Tauri Aa (formally named Taygeta) and 19 Tauri Ab. Even though the name officially applies only to the primary companion, it has been traditionally used for the entire star system. In addition to the Flamsteed designation 19 Tauri, the system also has the Bayer designation q Tauri, but the latter is not commonly used.

Taygeta is the sixth brightest star in the Pleiades cluster. The brightest members are young, hot blue stars that formed in the last 100 million years. They are located at an average distance of 444 light years from the Sun. The cluster contains over 1,000 confirmed members and many more unresolved and faint stars. The total mass of the cluster is about 800 solar masses.

The Pleiades stars formed in the same molecular cloud at about the same time and have been travelling together ever since. They will keep moving through space together for another 250 million years before the cluster gradually dissipates.

The nine brightest stars in M45 are named after the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters in Greek mythology – Alcyone (Eta Tauri), Asterope (21 Tauri), Celaeno (16 Tauri), Electra (17 Tauri), Maia (20 Tauri), Merope (23 Tauri) and Taygeta (19 Tauri) – and their parents Atlas (27 Tauri) and Pleione (28 Tauri).