Fixed star:  MEROPE
Constellation:  23 Taurus
Longitude 1900:  28TAU18	Longitude 2000:  29TAU42
Declination 1900:  +23.38′	Declination 2000:  +23.56′
Right ascension:  03h 46m	Latitude:  +03.57′
Spectral class:  B5	Magnitude:  4.2

The history of the star: Merope

Fl. 23 Taurus, Merope, is one of the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, a group of stars on the shoulder of the Bull. Both Merope are Electra are considered to be “the Lost Pleiad.”

See Alcyone, the chief star in the Pleiades, for astrological interpretations.

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from p.406 of Star Names, Richard Hinckley Allen, 1889.

Fl. 23, Merope, or , 5, silvery white.

Merope often is considered the Lost Pleiad, because, having married a mortal, the crafty Sisyphus, she hid her face in shame when she thought of her sisters’ alliances with the gods, and realized that she had thrown herself away. She seems, however, to have recovered her equanimity, being now much brighter than some of the others. The name itself signifies “Mortal.”

This star is enveloped in a faintly extended, triangular, nebulous haze, visually discovered by Tempel in October, 1859; and there is a small, distinct nebula, discovered by Barnard in November, 1890, close by Merope, almost hidden in its radiance, although intrinsically very bright.