Surf Wiki
Save to docs
general/taurus-constellation

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Sterope (star)

Double star in the constellation Taurus

Sterope (star)
Summary

Double star in the constellation Taurus

Position of the Asterope pair in the [[Pleiades

The Sterope or Asterope {{cite journal | access-date=2016-09-14 }}

The International Astronomical Union applies the name Asterope specifically to 21 Tauri. The two stars are thus

The two stars are separated by 0.047° on the sky, which is equal to 2.82 arc-minutes and thus closer than the usual naked-eye resolution limit of 4 arc-min, giving an elongated appearance of the two together. Both are members of the Pleiades open star cluster (M45) and approximately 440 light-years from the Sun.

Nomenclature

Asterope was one of the Pleiades sisters in Greek mythology.

In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN){{citation | access-date=22 May 2016 | postscript=. }} to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems. It approved the name Asterope for 21 Tauri on 21 August 2016 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names.

Namesake

USS Sterope (AK-96) was a United States Navy Crater class cargo ship named after the star.

Cultural meaning

In Māori tradition the star is known as Pōhutukawa, which forms part of the Matariki cluster. It is said to be a female being linked to the dead, whose absence in the night sky portends upcoming death.

References

References

  1. Burnham, Robert. (1978). "Burnham's Celestial Handbook: An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar System". [[Courier Corporation]].
  2. "Naming Stars". IAU.org.
  3. "WG Triennial Report (2015-2018) - Star Names".
  4. (23 June 2022). "Stars of the Matariki cluster: Pōhutukawa". [[Te Papa]].
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

taurus-(constellation) pleiades
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Sterope (star) — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report