See also: Alcyone

Alcyone ( η Tauri, Eta Tauri ) is a multiple star located in the Constellation of the Taureau, the most brilliant star of the cluster of the Pléiades. It is located at approximately 440 light-years of the Ground.

The principal component of the system, Alcyone has , is a blue-white giant of spectral Type B and of Magnitude connect 2,85. It is acted in fact of a Binaire to eclipses, whose two components are separated from 0,031 seconds of arc, which taking into account the distance corresponds roughly to the distance Sun - Jupiter (~ 5 ua).

Three other stars orbit around this binary star: Alcyone B and Alcyone C is both of the dwarf stars of the type is and magnitude 8, and separate respectively of Alcyone has by 117 and 181 seconds of arc. Alcyone D is a Naine yellow of the type F, located at 191 seconds of arc of principal star, with a magnitude of 8,7. Alcyone C is a variable star of the type Delta Scuti , its varying magnitude from 8,25 to 8,30 in 1,13 hour.

Alcyone has, the principal star, has a luminosity equal to 1400 times that of the Sun, and its temperature of surface reaches at least 13  000 Kelvin. The number of revolutions of very fast of the star (approximately 215 km/s at the equator), led to the formation of a gas disc in orbit around the star, by matter ejection.

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