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The Pleiades

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The Pleiades TEACHER RESOURCE STARDOME OBSERVATORY & PLANETARIUM FACTS, RESOURCES AND ACTIVITIES ON... PLEIADES THE Ururangi The group of stars, known in New Zealand as Matariki has Merope been known by many other names all over the world, and Tupu-ā-rangi all through history. To the ancient Babylonians the stars Atlas Waipuna-ā-rangi Matariki were known as MUL.MUL, in Japan, they are Subaru, in Electra Alcyone parts of India they are Krittika, and in ancient Greece and astronomy today they are known as the Pleiades. The Pleiades are what is known in astronomy as an open Hiwa-i-te-rangi Tupu-ā-nuku star cluster. Open star clusters are groups of relatively Celaeno Pleione Waitī young stars that formed at roughly the same time, from Maia the same huge cloud of gas and dust, known as a nebula. Waitā All stars were born from nebulae; including our own Taygeta Sun. Some five billion years ago the Sun formed from a Pōhutukawa Sterope nebula along with hundreds, or maybe thousands of other stars. When stars form in a nebula, they form quite close together and their mutual gravitational pull commonly causes them to become loosely bound together into clusters, just like the Pleiades. Our Sun was almost certainly part of a similar cluster billions of years ago when it was young, but these clusters don’t last forever. As an open star cluster drifts through space the gravity of other distant stars will gradually pull the cluster apart, sending the stars on their separate ways. This is a slow process At around though, the cluster that once contained the Sun likely existed for hundreds of 400 light years millions of years and it is thought that the Pleiades cluster will still be around a few hundred million years from now. distance, the The stars of the Pleiades are young as far as stars go. They must be in order to Pleiades is the still be part of an open cluster. It is impossible to know exactly how old the stars in Pleiades are, but it is estimated they are at most, 100 million years old. When second closest you see the Pleiades in the night sky, you can usually see only a handful of stars open cluster depending on viewing conditions and your own eyesight. It is thought, however, to us. that there are upwards of 1,000 stars in the cluster altogether. Around nine stars are visible with the naked eye and are merely the brightest members of the cluster. Stars come in many different types. The brightest members of the Pleiades are known as class-B stars. Class-B stars are much larger and hotter than the Sun but are much shorter lived. They are often found in open clusters or can be traced to open clusters Check out these other resources... http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/star/star_cluster/ that have recently broken apart as their short lifespan rarely allows them to venture far http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/starclusters/ from their sibling stars. DISCUSSION POINTS some SCIENCE are CONTENT/ Why different CURRICULUM LINK stars PHYSICAL WORLD colours? – PHYSICAL INQUIRY AND can stars PHYSICS CONCEPTS. EXPLORE many EVERYDAY EXAMPLES OF How PHYSICAL PHENOMENA. at night? see SEEK AND DESCRIBE SIMPLE you PATTERNS IN PHYSICAL PHENOMENA. STARDOME.ORG.NZ 09 624 1246 ACTIVITY STARDOME OBSERVATORY & PLANETARIUM DID YOU KNOW MY STAR There are hundreds of open MEET clusters in the skies of Earth Objective... and some, like the Pleiades, can be seen without the aid of a telescope. The aim of this class activity is to demonstrate the Look up at the sky on a clear night, different types of stars in our universe and to learn NOTE: see if you can spot any other open more about the twinkling “dots” in the night sky. There could be star clusters. They will look like more than one compact groups of stars and may scientific name have a slightly fuzzy appearance for a star. You’ll need... to them. (Hint: There are Internet access and a computer/tablet several around the Craft supplies, including card, paint, glitter Southern Cross.) Meet my Star worksheet Stellarium – free astronomy software that enables you to explore the night sky LIST OF STARS... 1. Sirius 8. Achernar 15. Spica Instructions... 2. Canopus 9. Betelgeuse 16. Antares Step 1: Here you’ll find a list of well-known stars. 3. Arcturus 10. Hadar (Agena) 17. Pollux Divide the class up into teams and ask them to 4. Alpha Centauri A 11. Capella A 18. Fomalhaut each pick a star based on its name. 5. Vega 12. Altair 19. Deneb Step 2: Assign each team time at the computer and ask them to find out information about their star. 6. Rigel 13. Aldebaran 20. Mimosa We’ve provided a worksheet for them to complete. 7. Procyon 14. Capella B Step 3: Once they have got to know their star, ask them to create a large picture of their star. These can be used to decorate the classroom. Step 4: With extra computer time, let the teams websites... discover their star in Stellarium. It’s a free software Check out these helpful nasa.gov that enables you to search the sky but date and time. wikipedia.org It can be set to your classes location and is a great space.com stellarium.org way of exploring the night sky, during the day. The Carina Nebula. Image credit: NASA credit: Image Nebula. Carina The The Butterfly Nebula. Image credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble credit: Image Nebula. Butterfly The STARDOME.ORG.NZ 09 624 1246 WORKSHEET MEET MY STAR • Hi, I’m __________________________ . • My scientific name is ________________________ . • I am ____________________ years old. • I am located ______________________light years away from Earth. • I am in the ______________________ constellation. Fun facts... STARDOME.ORG.NZ 09 624 1246.
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