Star profile
Merope
23 Tauri · Taurus
Variable starWhat is Merope
Merope was the seventh Pleiad in Greek tradition, called «the lost one» because, according to the myth, she hid her face in shame for loving a mortal. It is a blue variable star, wrapped in dusty nebulosity that the cluster is currently passing through, visible in long-exposure photographs. At 380 light-years, its light set out in the seventeenth century, when that mythical image still being repeated in astronomy books was being coined.
Where it is and when to see it
Merope lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is November: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Merope
- Constellation
- Taurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.14
- Distance
- 380.2 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 56.582° · Dec 23.948°
- Catalogue
- HIP 17608 · HD 23480
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Other stars in Taurus
Taurus has 144 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AldebaranAlpha Tauri0.87
- ElnathBeta Tauri1.65
- AlcyoneEta Tauri2.85
- Maia3.87
- Nu Tauri3.91
- 5 Tauri4.14
- Kappa 1 Tauri4.21
- 88 Tauri4.25