Another Angry WomanDec 27, 2022

Something that pure fucks me up is that so many cultures around the world, from Europe to Indigenous Australians describe the Pleiades as a variant on seven sisters/maidens. Only six stars in the cluster are visible to the naked eye. There are stories from these diffuse cultures as to how one "sister" died or was hidden, usually from Orion the hunter.

About 100,000 years ago, a seventh star would have been visible but it moved so naked eye can't see its individual point of light any more.

Show threadJules
@stavvers I didn't know the bit about the "seventh sister" having been once visible. This preservation of knowledge through deep time really blows my mind.
Dec 27, 2022 at 9:17amWeb
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 27, 2022
@quidcumque obviously we can't know for sure that the story alludes to the stars moving slightly but it feels pretty strong that that's exactly what the stories were all made about
Show threadIan K TindaleDec 27, 2022
@stavvers @quidcumque I remember reading when I was young that cave dwellers painted the cluster with twelve stars, the author concluding that they must’ve had far better vision

I’m not sure how much of that was anything like true, or how much makes sense, now I look back it seems me to be a fabrication by an author #Monetisation, #dependency, #income, #agent, #creative, #footwork
Show threadMatt McIrvinDec 27, 2022

@stavvers @quidcumque I recall hearing speculation decades ago that Pleione or some other star in the cluster used to be much brighter than it is now.

But I now see the more recent research you mentioned that suggests it's the motion that just made it harder to see.