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Loading contentEncyclopedia · Greek Mythology
The Seven Sisters of myth and the star cluster in Taurus.
In Greek mythology the Pleiades were seven sisters, the daughters of the Titan Atlas — who in myth holds up the sky — and the sea nymph Pleione. According to the legend they were pursued by the hunter Orion, and to save them the gods set them among the stars.
The sisters bore the names Maia, Electra, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope, and Merope. The myths sometimes explain why one star of the cluster shines more faintly than the rest — saying that Merope, who married a mortal, hides her face for shame, or that one sister mourns and dims her light.
The Pleiades are a bright open star cluster in the constellation Taurus, still widely known as the Seven Sisters. To the unaided eye a handful of stars stand out in a small, tight knot — a sight noted by cultures across the world and, in this Greek tradition, remembered as the daughters of Atlas.
How this connects across Asteria Star — scientific, cultural, and astrological links are kept separate.