101 Must-See Cosmic Objects: The Pleiades

Visible to the unaided eye as a tiny congregation of stars due west of Taurus’ V-shaped head, the Pleiades (M45), also known as the Seven Sisters, is one of the sky’s premier open star clusters. Under typical suburban skies, you might be able to count five or six stars set in the shape of a tiny dipper. Move to darker skies, though, and that number could double or even triple.

One reason the Pleiades puts on such a grand show is because it is only about 445 light-years away. That ma