[12] Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades were probably formed from a compact configuration that once resembled the Orion Nebula.

[19] The M45 group played an important role in ancient times for the establishment of many calendars thanks to the combination of two remarkable elements.

The second, essential for the ancients, is that in the middle of the third millennium BC, this asterism (a prominent pattern or group of stars that is smaller than a constellation) marked the vernal point.

[37][38] The earliest known depiction of the Pleiades is likely a Northern German Bronze Age artifact known as the Nebra sky disk, dated to approximately 1600 BC.

The Ancient Egyptians may have used the names "Followers" and "Ennead" in the prognosis texts of the Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days of papyrus Cairo 86637.

[40] Some Greek astronomers considered them to be a distinct constellation, and they are mentioned by Hesiod's Works and Days,[41] Homer's Iliad and Odyssey,[42] and the Geoponica.

[45] On numerous cylinder seals from the beginning of the first millennium BC, M45 is represented by seven points, while the Seven Gods appear, on low-reliefs of Neo-Assyrian royal palaces, wearing long open robes and large cylindrical headdresses surmounted by short feathers and adorned with three frontal rows of horns and a crown of feathers, while carrying both an ax and a knife, as well as a bow and a quiver.

[52] In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, where The Lord of the Rings is set, Pleiades is referred to as Remmirath, the netted star, as are several other celestial bodies, such as the constellation Orion as Menelvagor, swordsman of the Sky.

He published his observations, including a sketch of the Pleiades showing 36 stars, in his treatise Sidereus Nuncius in March 1610.

[54] When studies were first made of the proper motions of the stars, it was found that they are all moving in the same direction across the sky, at the same rate, further demonstrating that they were related.

Ultimately astronomers' understanding of the age and future evolution of the universe is influenced by their knowledge of the distance to the Pleiades.

Results prior to the launch of the Hipparcos satellite generally found that the Pleiades were approximately 135 parsecs (pc) away from Earth.

[61] However, the author of the 2007–2009 catalog of revised Hipparcos parallaxes reasserted that the distance to the Pleiades is ~120 pc and challenged the dissenting evidence.

[2] In 2012, Francis and Anderson[62] proposed that a systematic effect on Hipparcos parallax errors for stars in clusters would bias calculation using the weighted mean; they gave a Hipparcos parallax distance of 126 pc and photometric distance of 132 pc based on stars in the AB Doradus, Tucana-Horologium and Beta Pictoris moving groups, which are all similar in age and composition to the Pleiades.

The Gaia Data Release 1 team were cautious about their result, and the VLBI authors assert "that the Hipparcos-measured distance to the Pleiades cluster is in error".

The cluster contains more than 1,000 statistically confirmed members, not counting the number that would be added if all binary stars could be resolved.

These are objects with less than approximately 8% of the Sun's mass, insufficient for nuclear fusion reactions to start in their cores and become proper stars.

The brightest stars of the cluster are named the Seven Sisters in early Greek mythology: Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Alcyone.

Calculations suggest that the cluster will take approximately 250 million years to disperse, because of gravitational interactions with giant molecular clouds and the spiral arms of our galaxy hastening its demise.

[11] Studies show that the dust responsible for the nebulosity is not uniformly distributed, but is concentrated mainly in two layers along the line of sight to the cluster.

[75] Analyzing deep-infrared images obtained by the Spitzer Space Telescope and Gemini North telescope, astronomers discovered that one of the stars in the cluster, HD 23514, which has a mass and luminosity a bit greater than that of the Sun, is surrounded by an extraordinary number of hot dust particles.