What is the Hyades?
Q: What is the Hyades?
A: The Hyades is an open star cluster that is the nearest to the Solar System and one of the best-studied of all star clusters.
Q: How far away is it from Earth?
A: The Hipparcos satellite, Hubble Space Telescope, and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting agree a distance of ~153 ly (47 pc) to the cluster centre.
Q: What are some characteristics of stars in this cluster?
A: Stars in this cluster share the same age, place of origin, chemical content, and motion through space.
Q: What does it look like from Earth's perspective?
A: From Earth's perspective, the brightest stars form a "V" shape with the even brighter red giant Aldebaran.
Q: What are some notable stars in this cluster?
A: The four brightest member stars are Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Theta Tauri which form a pattern which was identified as the head of Taurus the Bull. Epsilon Tauri also known as Ain (the "Bull's Eye"), harbours at least one gas giant planet.
Q: How old is this cluster?
A: The age of this cluster is about 625 million years old.
Q:What is its size?
A:The core has a radius of 2.7 parsecs (corresponding to a diameter of 17.6 light years), and its tidal radius is 10 parsecs (corresponding to a diameter of 65 light years). About one-third of confirmed member stars have been observed well outside this boundary in its extended halo.
