Pleione (star)

Pleione (star)

Coordinates: 03h 49m 11.2161s, +24° 08′ 12.163″

Pleione (28 Tauri, BU Tauri) is a binary star in the Pleiades star cluster (M45), located roughly 390 light years away in the constellation of Taurus. Pleione was not given a Bayer designation, but did receive a Flamsteed number—hence its designation 28 Tauri. Since the star is located close to Atlas, it's difficult for stargazers to distinguish with the naked eye, even though it's a hot type B star 190 times more luminous than the Sun. Pleione rotates even faster than Achernar on its axis, close to its breakup velocity.

The brighter star of the binary pair, component A, is a classical Be star with certain distinguishing traits: periodic phase changes and a complex circumstellar environment composed of two gaseous disks at different angles to each other. Although some research on the system has been performed, stellar characteristics of the orbiting B component are not well known. Pleione is the seventh brightest star in the Pleiades, after Taygeta.