Editing Pleiades (section)

== Nomenclature and mythology==
{{See also|Pleiades in folklore and literature}}
[[In Turkic Mythology]] - The Pleiades Constellation is one of the oldest cosmological figures of the Turks. Seasonal cycles in Anatolia are determined by this star group.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Clker_(y%C4%B1ld%C4%B1z_k%C3%BCmesi)#T%C3%BCrk_mitolojisinde|title=Turkic Mythology|website=tr.wikipedia.org |date=31 August 2024|access-date=31 August 2024}}</ref>
[[File:Seven Sisters coin Royal Australian Mint 1 dollar 2020 Reverse.jpg|thumb|Commemorative silver one dollar coin issued in 2020 by the [[Royal Australian Mint]] - on the reverse, the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) are represented as they are portrayed in an ancient story of Australian Indigenous tradition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ramint.gov.au/publications/royal-australian-mint-looks-stars-honour-australian-indigenous-stories|title=The Royal Australian Mint looks to the stars to honour Australian Indigenous stories|website=www.ramint.gov.au|date=3 September 2020|access-date=31 December 2020}}</ref>]]
The Pleiades are a prominent sight in winter in the [[Northern Hemisphere]], and are easily visible from mid-southern latitudes. They have been known since antiquity to cultures all around the world,<ref>Julien D'Huy, Yuri Berezkin. How Did the First Humans Perceive the Starry Night? On the Pleiades. The Retrospective Methods Network Newsletter 2017, pp.100-122. https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01673386/document</ref> including the [[Celts]] ({{langx|cy|Tŵr Tewdws}}, {{langx|ga|Streoillín}}); pre-colonial [[Filipino people|Filipinos]] (who called it {{lang|tl|Mapúlon}}, {{lang|tl|Mulo‑pulo}} or {{lang|tl|Muró‑púro}}, among other names), for whom it indicated the beginning of the year;<ref name="Mintz">{{cite journal |last1=Mintz |first1=Malcolm W. |title=Monograph 1: The Philippines at the Turn of the Sixteenth Century |journal=Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific |date=2021 |url=http://intersections.anu.edu.au/monograph1/mintz_cover.htm |access-date=2023-06-04 |archive-date=2023-05-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230503153221/http://intersections.anu.edu.au/monograph1/mintz_cover.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="MacKinlay">{{cite book |last1=MacKinlay |first1=William Egbert Wheeler |title=A Handbook and Grammar of the Tagalog Language |date=1905 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=46}}</ref> [[Native Hawaiians|Hawaiians]] (who call them {{lang|haw|Makali{{okina}}i}}),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.hokulea.com/pdfs/Hawaiian_astronomy_I.pdf|title=Hawaiian Astronomical Concepts|last=Makemson|first=Maud|website=Hokulea.com|access-date=31 October 2018}}</ref> [[Māori culture|Māori]] (who call them {{lang|mi|[[Matariki]]}}); [[Indigenous Australians]] (from [[Australian Aboriginal astronomy#Pleiades|several traditions]]); the [[Achaemenid Empire]], whence in [[Persians]] (who called them {{transl|fa|Parvīn}} – {{lang|fa|پروین}} – or {{transl|fa|Parvī}} – {{lang|fa|پروی}});<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.parsi.wiki/fa/wiki/174713/%d9%be%d8%b1%d9%88%db%8c%d9%86|title=Dehkhoda Dictionary|last=Dehkhoda|first=Ali Akbar|website=Parsi Wiki}}</ref> the [[Arabs]] (who call them {{transl|ar|al-Thurayyā}}; {{lang|ar|الثريا}}<ref name="allen">{{cite book | author=Allen, Richard Hinckley | author-link=Richard Hinckley Allen | date=1963 | orig-year=1899 | title=Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning | edition=[[Reprint]] | publisher=[[Dover Publications]] Inc. | location=[[New York City|New York]], [[New York (state)|NY]] | url=https://archive.org/details/starnamestheirlo00alle | isbn=978-0-486-21079-7 | url-access=registration }}</ref>); the [[China|Chinese]] (who called them {{transl|zh|mǎo}}; {{lang|zh|昴}}); the [[Quechua people|Quechua]] (who call them [[Quyllurit'i|Qullqa]] or the storehouse); the [[Japan]]ese (who call them {{transl|ja|Subaru}}; {{lang|ja|昴}}, {{lang|ja|スバル}}); the [[Maya civilization|Maya]]; the [[Aztec]]; the [[Sioux]]; the [[Kiowa]];<ref name="Andrews2004">{{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Munya |title=The Seven Sisters of the Pleiades: Stories from Around the World |date=2004 |publisher=Spinifex Press |isbn=978-1876756451 |pages=149–152}}</ref><ref name="Kracht2017">{{cite book |last1=Kracht |first1=Benjamin |title=Kiowa Belief and Ritual |date=2017 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-1496201461 |pages=63,75,139,189}}</ref> and the [[Cherokee]]. In [[Hinduism]], the Pleiades are known as [[Kṛttikā]] and are scripturally associated with the war deity [[Kartikeya]] and are also identified or associated with the [[Matrikas|Saptamatrika(s)]] (Seven Mothers). Hindus celebrate the first day (new moon) of the month of [[Kartik (month)|Kartik]] as [[Diwali]], a festival of abundance and lamps. {{Citation needed|date=October 2024}} The Pleiades are also mentioned three times in the [[Bible]].<ref>{{Bibleverse|Job|9:9|KJV}}, {{Bibleverse|Job|38:31|KJV}} and {{Bibleverse|Amos|5:8|KJV}}</ref><ref name="HastingsSelbie1911">{{cite book |author1=James Hastings |author2=John Alexander Selbie |author3=Andrew Bruce Davidson |author4=Samuel Rolles Driver |author5=Henry Barclay Swete |title=Dictionary of the Bible: Kir-Pleiades |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fxZVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA492 |year=1911 |publisher=Scribner |pages=895–896}}</ref>

[[File:Pleiades Sidereus Nuncius.png|thumb|right|upright|Galileo's drawings of the Pleiades star cluster from ''Sidereus Nuncius'']]
The earliest known depiction of the Pleiades is likely a Northern German [[Bronze Age]] artifact known as the [[Nebra sky disk]], dated to approximately 1600 BC.<ref name=BBC2008>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2004/stardisctrans.shtml|title=BBC - Science & Nature - Horizon - Secrets of the Star Disc|date=2004|publisher=BBC|access-date=2008-03-25}}</ref> The [[Babylonian star catalogues]] name the Pleiades {{transl|sux|<sup>MUL</sup>MUL}} ({{lang|sux|{{cuneiform|10|𒀯𒀯}}}}), meaning "stars" (literally "star star"), and they head the list of stars along the ecliptic, reflecting the fact that they were close to the point of the [[March equinox|vernal equinox]] around the twenty-third century BC. The Ancient Egyptians may have used the names "Followers" and "Ennead" in the prognosis texts of the Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days of papyrus Cairo 86637.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Jetsu, L.|author2=Porceddu, S.|title=Shifting Milestones of Natural Sciences: The Ancient Egyptian Discovery of Algol's Period Confirmed|journal = PLOS ONE|volume = 10 |issue=12|date = 2015|pages = e.0144140 (23pp)|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0144140|pmid=26679699|pmc=4683080|bibcode=2015PLoSO..1044140J|arxiv = 1601.06990 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Some [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] astronomers considered them to be a distinct [[constellation]], and they are mentioned by [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Works and Days]]'',<ref>Hesiod, ''[[Works and Days]]'', (618-23)</ref> [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'',<ref name=homer>{{cite journal|bibcode=2011JAHH...14...22T|title=Astronomy and Constellations in the Iliad and Odyssey|journal=Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage|issn=1440-2807|volume=14|issue=1|pages=22|last1=Theodossiou|first1=E.|last2=Manimanis|first2=V. N.|last3=Mantarakis|first3=P.|last4=Dimitrijevic|first4=M. S.|year=2011|doi=10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2011.01.02 |s2cid=129824469 }}</ref> and the ''[[Geoponica]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/geoponica/0028.html |title=The Geoponica (Agricultural Pursuits), page 6 (V. 1) |access-date=2011-04-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012092608/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/geoponica/0028.html |archive-date=2012-10-12 }}{{dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref> The Pleiades was the most well-known "star" among pre-Islamic Arabs and so often referred to simply as "the Star" ({{transl|ar|an-Najm}}; {{lang|ar|النجم}}).<ref>{{cite thesis |author1=Danielle Kira Adams |url=https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/630173 |title=Rain Stars Set, Lunar Stations Rise: Multivalent Textures of Pre-Islamic Arabian Astronomy and the Hegemonic Discourse of Order |type=PhD |publisher=University of Arizona |year=2018 |pages=105–107 }}</ref> Some scholars of [[Islam]] suggested that the Pleiades are the "star" mentioned in [[An-Najm|Surah An-Najm]] ("The Star") in the [[Quran]].<ref>Saqib Hussain, "The Prophet's Vision in Sūrat al-Najm," ''Journal of the International Qur'anic Studies Association'', '''5''' (2020): 97–132.</ref>

On numerous cylinder seals from the beginning of the first millennium BC, M45 is represented by seven points, while the ''Seven Gods'' appear, on low-reliefs of Neo-Assyrian royal palaces, wearing long open robes and large cylindrical headdresses surmounted by short feathers and adorned with three frontal rows of horns and a crown of feathers, while carrying both an ax and a knife, as well as a bow and a quiver.<ref>Jeremy Black & Anthony Green, ''Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia'', an Illustrated Dictionary, London: British Museum Press, 1992, p. 162.</ref>

As noted by scholar [[Stith Thompson]], the constellation was "nearly always imagined" as a group of seven sisters, and their myths explain why there are only six.<ref>Thompson, Stith (1977). ''The Folktale''. University of California Press. pp. 237-238. {{ISBN|0-520-03537-2}}.</ref> Some scientists suggest that these may come from observations back when [[Pleione (star)|Pleione]] was farther from [[Atlas (star)|Atlas]] and more visible as a separate star as far back as 100,000 BC.<ref>Norris, Ray P., Norris, Barnaby R.M. (2021). Why Are There Seven Sisters?. In: Boutsikas, E., McCluskey, S.C., Steele, J. (eds) Advancing Cultural Astronomy. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64606-6_11</ref>

=== Subaru ===
In [[Japan]], the cluster is mentioned under the name {{transl|ja|Mutsuraboshi}} ("six stars") in the eighth-century ''[[Kojiki]]''.<ref name="kojiki-pleiades">{{cite book|title=The Seven Sisters of the Pleiades: Stories from Around the World|first=Munya |last=Andrews |date=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3GbYg26S8pUC&pg=PA293|publisher=Spinifex Press|location=North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia|isbn=978-1-876756-45-1|page=293}}</ref> The cluster is now known in Japan as Subaru.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Seven Sisters of the Pleiades: Stories from Around the World|first=Munya |last=Andrews |date=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3GbYg26S8pUC&pg=PA293|publisher=Spinifex Press|location=North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia|isbn=978-1-876756-45-1|page=25}}</ref>

The name was chosen for that of the [[Subaru Telescope]], the {{convert|8.2|m|in|adj=on|sp=us}} flagship telescope of the [[National Astronomical Observatory of Japan]], located at the [[Mauna Kea Observatory]] on the island of [[Hawaii (island)|Hawaii]]. It had the largest [[Segmented mirror#Application|monolithic]] [[primary mirror]] in the world from its commissioning in 1998 until 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/hitech/subaru/index.html |title=The Subaru Telescope |publisher=web-japan.org |access-date=2010-09-22}}</ref>

It also was chosen as the brand name of [[Subaru]] automobiles to reflect the origins of the firm as the joining of five companies, and is depicted in the firm's six-star logo.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fuji Heavy Industries Changes Name to Subaru|url=http://www.automotive-fleet.com/news/story/2016/05/fuji-heavy-industries-changes-name-to-subaru.aspx|website=automotive-fleet.com|publisher=Automotive Fleet Magazine|access-date=24 June 2016|date=May 12, 2016}}</ref>