Pleiades: The history behind how the constellation got named Seven Sisters

People have known about the Pleiades constellation from thousands of years. It's so popular and well known that every major culture has its own version of the Pleiades mythos. The amazing thing is, they all somehow have a mention of 'Seven Sisters' in relation to the Pleiades.

The Pleiades

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The Pleiades is what scientists refer to as an 'open star cluster'. In other words. it's a cluster or group of stars born around each other at the same time. Powerful telescopes have observed more than 800 stars in the Pleiades cluster. However, the human eye can only see about six or seven stars in the clear night sky. 

Scientists have often wondered how different cultures from across the world could have the same story for the Pleiades for thousands of years without ever coming into contact with each other. According to space.com, a new ongoing study could potentially prove the answer. The new study theorises that the story of the 'Seven Sisters' in connection to the Pleiades could have originated in Africa, some 100,000 years ago. 

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History of the Seven Sisters

An astrophysicist, Ray Norris of the Western Sydney University (CSIRO), has often wondered about this - how cultures all across the world have consistently referred to this constellation with the number seven, with names like "Seven Sister", "Seven Maidens" or "Seven Little Girls", according to his interview with Live Science. Norris has studied the history of Indigenous Australians and learned their culture and stories. Even they refer to the Pleiades as Seven Girls, who are being chased by the constellation Orion, more commonly known as a hunter in their stores. 

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Norris noted in that interview that this story isn't too surprising. Orion and Pleiades are very bright and prominent members of the night sky. The Earth's rotation makes it look like Orion is chasing the Pleiades, hence the hunter and seven sisters story. Norris has another theory, which brings us back to Africa. The Pleiades has a bright star known as Pleione, which is often overshadowed by the star Atlas and is not visible to the naked eye. However, around 100,000 years ago, when humans were migrating from their home continent of Africa to all across the world, the two stars would have been far apart.

This could very well account for the constellation being called 'Seven Sisters' as there would be seven clearly visible stars at the time (100,000 years ago in Africa). The theory also states that our original African ancestors came up with the story and as they migrated around the world, they carried their stories to different continents. These stories were then respectively passed down through each culture, hence retaining the same elements of the story. 

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