Maia (star)

Maia, also designated 20 Tauri, is a blue giant star in the constellation Taurus. It is one of the brightest stars in the Pleiades open cluster (also known as the Seven Sisters or Messier 45).

Properties: Maia is classified as a B8 III giant star. This classification indicates that it is a hot, luminous star that has evolved off the main sequence. It has exhausted the hydrogen fuel in its core and begun to fuse hydrogen in a shell around the core, causing it to expand and cool slightly. Maia has a surface temperature of approximately 12,600 Kelvin. Its luminosity is estimated to be several hundred times that of the Sun. It is also a known Mercury-Manganese (HgMn) star, exhibiting peculiar abundances of these elements in its atmosphere.

Visibility: Maia is visible to the naked eye under good observing conditions. Its apparent magnitude is approximately 3.87. Its location within the prominent Pleiades cluster makes it relatively easy to find in the night sky.

Mythology and Cultural Significance: Like the other stars in the Pleiades, Maia is named after one of the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione in Greek mythology. Maia was the eldest of the seven sisters and the mother of Hermes by Zeus. The Pleiades have been recognized and incorporated into the mythology of numerous cultures throughout history.

Distance: The Pleiades cluster, and therefore Maia, is located at a distance of approximately 444 light-years (136 parsecs) from Earth.

Cluster Membership: Maia is gravitationally bound to the Pleiades open cluster. This cluster is a relatively young group of stars, estimated to be around 100 million years old. All the stars in the cluster formed from the same giant molecular cloud.

Variability: Maia is suspected of being a variable star, but its variability is not well-established.