Stephen James O'Meara's Secret Sky: Sisters of the Misty Vail

February 2011: The lovely Pleiades have called from the sky for millennia.

Contributed by Stephen James O'Meara

Published: December 27, 2010

The Pleiades (M45), an open star cluster also known as the Seven Sisters, shine brightly just off Taurus the Bull’s shoulder, garnering them an extended stay in various cultures’ myths

Photo by NASA/ESA/AURA/Caltech

Go outside around 6 p.m. this month, face south, and look high in the sky for M45, the Pleiades open star cluster. Commonly called the Seven Sisters, this stunning gathering of naked-eye stars, veiled in nebulosity, lies on the shoulder of Taurus the Bull.

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