A table of the brightest Pleiades member stars follows. Also note Steven Gibson's Brightest Pleiads table.

Star    Name       RA (2000.0) Dec (2000.0) mag   Spectrum  Nebulosity

    16  Celaeno    03:44:48.22 +24:17:22.1  5.44  B7 IV     Ced 19c
    17  Electra    03:44:52.54 +24:06:48.0  3.70  B6e III   vdB 20
    18  HD 23324   03:45:09.74 +24:50:21.3  5.65  B8 V      
    19  Taygeta    03:45:12.49 +24:28:02.2  4.29  B6 V      Ced 19e
    20  Maia       03:45:49.61 +24:22:03.9  3.86  B7 III    NGC 1432 (vdB 21)
    21  Asterope 1 03:45:54.48 +24:33:16.2  5.64  B8e V     Ced 19h
    22  Asterope 2 03:46:02.90 +24:31:40.4  6.41  B9/A0 Vn  Ced 19h
    23  Merope     03:46:19.57 +23:56:54.1  4.17  B6 IV     NGC 1435 (VdB 22) + IC 349 (Ced 19i)
    24  HD 23629   03:47:21.04 +24:06:58.6  6.28  A0 V  
Eta 25  Alcyone    03:47:29.08 +24:06:18.5  2.86  B7e III   vdB 23 
        HD 23753   03:48:20.82 +23:25:16.5  5.44  B8 V      
    26  HD 23822   03:48:56.94 +23:51:25.7  6.48  F0        [Non-member foreground star]
    27  Atlas      03:49:09.74 +24:03:12.3  3.62  B8 III    Ced 19o
 BU 28  Pleione    03:49:11.22 +24:08:12.2  5.09v B8e p     Ced 19p
        HD 23923   03:49:43.53 +23:42:42.7  6.17  B8 V
        HD 23950   03:49:55.07 +22:14:38.9  6.07  B8 III    

Key:

Star

Star letter or number; "eta" is "eta Tauri", "27" is "27 Tauri", etc.

Name

Common name of the star

mag

Apparent visual magnitude

Sp

Spectral type of star

Nebulosity

Catalog number of associated nebulosity (if one is present)

Star      Name       m_vis

Eta = 25  Alcyone    2.86
      27  Atlas      3.62
      17  Electra    3.70
      20  Maia       3.86
      23  Merope     4.17
      19  Taygeta    4.29
 BU = 28  Pleione    5.09v
   21+22  Asterope   5.31 (combined)
      16  Celaeno    5.44
          HD 23753   5.44
      21  Asterope 1 5.64
      18  HD 23324   5.65
          HD 23950   6.07
          HD 23923   6.17
      24  HD 23629   6.28
      22  Asterope 2 6.41
      26  HD 23822   6.48 [Non-member]

The most conspicuous of the Pleiades reflection nebulae is NGC 1435 around Merope, also called "Tempel's Nebula". This is the only one which was known to John Herschel when he compiled his General Catalog (GC) in 1864, and has been assigned the number GC 768. It has a faint extension, IC 349, which is very small and 36" south following (east) of Merope.

The star Maia (20 Tauri) was subject to speculation when Otto Struve brought up the hypothesis that it might be the representative of a new type of variables of spectral type B7-A3 near-main sequence stars, of some ours period and small amplitudes. However, various photometric investigations have proven that Maia (and other suspected "Maia Variables" such as Gamma UMa) is of constant brightness.

In the region of the sky around the Pleiades, a number of more diffuse nebulae can be found, many of them discovered by Barnard (1894) who referred to them as the "exterior nebulosities of the Pleiades." The following table lists the NGC and IC nebulae (and suspected nebulae) in the wider field around the Pleiades:

Nebula      RA (2000.0) Dec  Type  Cross References, Discoverer

IC  1941    03:32.2  +24:26   3St  D.S. 202
IC   336    03:38.2  +23:28   Neb  Barnard (AN 3253)
IC   341    03:41.2  +21:57   Neb  Barnard (AN 3253)
NGC 1432 P  03:45.8  +24:22   Neb  Maia Neb, in M45; Henry
NGC 1435 P  03:46.1  +23:47   Neb  in M45; Tempel (1859 Oct 19), Tempel's Neb, Merope Neb, GC 768
IC   349 P  03:46.3  +23:56   Neb  in M45; Barnard's Merope N, Barnard (AN 3018)
M 45     P  03:47.0  +24:07   OC   Pleiades
IC  1990    03:47.5  +24:37   Neb  Stratonoff (AN 3366)
NGC 1456    03:48.2  +22:34   DSt  J G Lohse
IC  1995    03:50.3  +25:35   Neb  Barnard
IC   354    03:53.3  +23:25   Neb  Barnard (AN 3253)
IC   353    03:55.0  +25:29   Neb  Barnard (AN 3253)
IC   360    04:13.0  +25:38   Neb  Barnard (AN 3253)

A "P" is marking objects situated within the boundaries of the Pleiades cluster. "Type": "Neb," Nebula; "OC," Open Cluster; "DSt," Double Star; "3St," Three Stars.

The present author has no information if any of these nebulae is associated with the Pleiades or their nebulosity. The diffuse nebulae IC 353, IC 354 and IC 360 are about 1 degree north following of the Pleiades. Region from the Pleiades to these nebulae. North of the boundary of the Pleiades lies the diffuse nebula IC 1990, found by Stratonoff, an emission nebula. It surrounds the double star ADS 2799 (A: 5.9 m, B: 6.3 m, separation 0.4"), see e.g. Vehrenberg's Atlas of Deep Sky Splendors.

References

• E.E. Barnard, 1893. On the exterior Nebulosities of the Pleiades. Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 136, No. 3253, col. 193-194 [ADS: 1894AN....136..193B]

Last Modification: November 23, 2005