Alcyone is the brightest star in the Pleiades, which is a young group of stars formed in the last 100 million years.  They are about 410 light years away in the constellation of Taurus.  It is thought that they will remain together as a group for the next 250 million years or so before moving outwards into the Galaxy. The stars, clearly visible within the nebulosity of star dust around them, ‘glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid’, as the poet Tennyson wrote. Alcyone is a brilliant star: nearly ten times the radius of our Sun, it spins more than 100 times faster and emits a thousand time as much light.

Finding Alcyone

Start with Orion, the giant-like constellation striding across the winter skies of the Northern Hemisphere. Follow the line of Orion’s belt to the reddish star Aldebaran and about as far again until you come to the cluster of the Pleiades. On a clear night you may see six or more stars distinct within a group that actually comprises several hundred. Alcyone is the brightest.