APOD: M45: The Pleiades Star Cluster (2015 Jun 17)

[geckzilla]

I see eight stars under good conditions, six under slightly poorer conditions. This is pretty typical. Nobody sees seven. The story talks about "Indians", but there are many different American Indian cultures, with many different stories about the stars, and a number of those stories feature six stars in the Pleiades.

It's unlikely that one star has dimmed in recent times. More likely is the fact that the number seven has numerological significance in many cultures, so the Pleiades got tweaked by culture, not nature.

I was reading about the star lore of various cultures the other night. A lot of myths and folklore have been lost as cultures have died off but it seems like the story of the Pleiades is one of the most commonly surviving legends from each culture. They've certainly made an impact upon a lot of humans throughout history.

[Nitpicker]

The "darkness" link leads to this APOD from 2001:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010827.html

What (on Earth) is/was causing so much light pollution north of the Falkland Islands?

[Chris Peterson]

The "darkness" link leads to this APOD from 2001:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010827.html

What (on Earth) is/was causing so much light pollution north of the Falkland Islands?

A huge Japanese fishing fleet that uses bright lights to attract squid.

[Nitpicker]

Gosh, I had no idea of the ramifications of my calamari habit. (Thanks Chris.)

[Astronomy Wannabe]

... heliacal rising ...

Thanks, Nitpicker for introducing me to a new term! This is one I had not heard before, I found the Wikipedia explanation fascinating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliacal_rising