Star profile
Pleione
28 Tauri · Taurus
Variable starWhat is Pleione
Pleione is one of the sisters of the Pleiades, the most famous cluster in the sky, in Taurus. It is a variable blue star spinning so rapidly on itself that it periodically flings out a disk of gas around its equator — a rare phenomenon that has made it an enduring subject of study. At 382 light-years, it shines at the very edge of human visibility, almost lost in the combined glow of its more celebrated sisters.
Where it is and when to see it
Pleione 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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The signature wall
Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works
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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 Pleione
- Constellation
- Taurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.05
- Distance
- 382.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 57.297° · Dec 24.137°
- Catalogue
- HIP 17851 · HD 23862
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
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
- Phi Tauri4.97
- 111 Tauri5.00
- 79 Tauri5.02
- 30 Tauri5.08
- Sigma 1 Tauri5.08