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Matariki Research Observatory
In Māori culture, Matariki is the Pleiades star cluster and a celebration of its first rising in late June or early July. The rising marks the beginning of the new year in the Māori lunar calendar. Historically, Matariki was usually celebrated for a period of days during the last quarter of the moon of the lunar month Pipiri (around June). The ceremony involved viewing the individual stars for forecasts of the year to come, mourning the deceased of the past year, and making an offering of food to replenish the stars. Some Māori use the rise of Puanga (Rigel) or other stars to mark the new year. Celebration of Matariki declined during the 20th century, but beginning in the early 1990s it underwent a revival. Matariki was first celebrated as an official public holiday in New Zealand on 24 June 2022. Name and meaning Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars known to Western astronomers as the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus. is a shortened version of , " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hāngī
Hāngī () is a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven, called an ''umu''. It is still used for large groups on special occasions, as it allows large quantities of food to be cooked without the need for commercial cooking appliances. Process To "lay a hāngī" or "put down a hāngī" involves digging a pit in the ground, heating stones in the pit with a large fire, placing baskets of food on top of the stones, and covering everything with earth for several hours before uncovering (or lifting) the hāngī. Hāngī experts have developed and improved methods that have often, like the stones themselves, been handed down for generations. Common foods cooked in a hāngī are meats such as lamb, pork, chicken and seafood (''kaimoana''), and vegetables such as potato, kūmara (sweet potato), yams (oca), pumpkin, squash, taro and cabbage. A hāngī pit is dug to a depth of between , sufficient to hold the rocks and two stacked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tuamotus
The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extending (from northwest to southeast) over an area roughly the size of Western Europe. Their combined land area is . This archipelago's major islands are Rangiroa, Anaa, Fakarava, Hao and Makemo. The Tuamotus have approximately 16,000 inhabitants. The islands were initially settled by Polynesians, and modern Tuamotuans have inherited from them a shared culture and the Tuamotuan language. The Tuamotus are a French overseas collectivity. History The early history of the Tuamotu islands is generally unknown. Archaeological findings suggest that the western Tuamotus were settled from the Society Islands as early as 900 CE or as late as 1200 CE. DNA evidence suggests that they were settled about 1110 CE. On the islands of Rangiroa, Manihi and Mataiva, there ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celaeno (star)
Celaeno (designated 16 Tauri) is a star in the constellation of Taurus (constellation), Taurus and a member of the Pleiades Open cluster, open star cluster (Messier object, M45) of stars. Properties 16 Tauri is a blue-white stellar classification, B-type subgiant with an apparent magnitude of +5.45. It is approximately 430 light years from the Sun; about the same distance as the Pleiades. The interstellar extinction of this star is fairly small at 0.05 magnitudes. The projected rotational velocity of the equator is 185 km/s. Vizier table J/ApJ/573/359. It is over four times the Solar radius, radius of the Sun and has a surface temperature of 12,800 K. Nomenclature ''16 Tauri'' is the star's Flamsteed designation. It bore the traditional named ''Celaeno'' (or ''Celeno'') and was called the "Lost Pleiad" by Theon of Alexandria, Theon the Younger. Celaeno was one of the Pleiades (Greek mythology), Pleiades sisters in Greek mythology. Could be related to kel anus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merope (star)
Merope , designated 23 Tauri (abbreviated 23 Tau), is a star in the constellation of Taurus (constellation), Taurus and a member of the Pleiades open cluster, star cluster. It is approximately away. Distance Despite being one of the closest star clusters to Earth, the distance to the Pleiades and its member stars is still in dispute. The parallax of Merope itself is not known precisely enough to give an accurate distance. Its Hipparcos parallax has a statistical margin of error of about 5% and gave a distance 116 parsecs. This, and an overall distance to the Pleiades calculated from Hipparcos parallaxes of 120 parsecs, are inconsistent with other parallax measurements such as from Gaia (spacecraft), Gaia. Merope is too bright for Gaia to have a reliable parallax for it, but calculations of the overall distance to the Pleiades cluster using Hipparcos, Gaia, Hubble Space Telescope, and other methods repeatedly show that the Hipparcos parallaxes suffered from some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electra (star)
Electra , designated 17 Tauri, is a blue-white giant star in the constellation of Taurus (constellation), Taurus located approximately 440 light years away. It is the third-brightest star in the Pleiades Open cluster, open star cluster (Messier object, M45), visible to the naked eye with an apparent magnitude of 3.7. Like the other bright stars of the Pleiades, it is named for one of the Pleiades (Greek mythology), Seven Sisters of Greek mythology. Properties Electra has an apparent brightness of 3.72, the third-brightest of the stars in the group. It belongs to the spectral class B6 IIIe and is approximately 440 light-years from the Sun. A number of papers have reported Electra to be a multiple star, but these have been contradictory and never confirmed. The stellar rotation, projected rotational velocity of this star is , making it a fast rotator. This is the velocity component of the star's equatorial rotation along the line of sight to the Earth. The estimated inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
19 Tauri
Taygeta is a double star in the constellation of Taurus and a member of the Pleiades open star cluster (M45). It consists of a binary pair designated 19 Tauri A together with a single star visual companion, 19 Tauri B. 'A's' two components are themselves designated 19 Tauri Aa (officially named Taygeta , the traditional name for the entire system) and Ab. Based on parallax measurements obtained during the Hipparcos mission, Taygeta is approximately 410 light-years from the Sun. Nomenclature ''19 Tauri'' is the system's Flamsteed designation. It also bears the little-used Bayer designation ''q Tauri''. The designations of the two constituents as ''19 Tauri A'' and ''B'', and those of ''A's'' components - ''19 Tauri Aa'' and ''Ab'' - derive from the convention used by the Washington Multiplicity Catalog (WMC) for multiple star systems, and adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The system bore the traditional name ''Taygeta'' (or ''Taygete''). Taygete wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maia (star)
Maia , designated 20 Tauri (abbreviated 20 Tau), is a star in the constellation of Taurus. It is a blue giant of spectral type B8 III, a chemically peculiar star. Maia is the fourth-brightest star in the Pleiades open star cluster (Messier 45), after Alcyone, Atlas and Electra. It is surrounded by one of the brighter reflection nebulae within the Pleiades, designated NGC 1432 and sometimes called the Maia Nebula. Nomenclature The name ''Maia'' originates with the and . Maia is one of the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione in Greek mythology—stars which are also included in the Pleiades star cluster. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included ''Maia'' for this star. It is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. ''20 Ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alcyone (star)
Alcyone , is a blue-white giant star and the brightest star in the Pleiades open cluster. At apparent magnitude 2.87, it is also the third-brightest star in the Taurus constellation. The star has the Bayer designation Eta Tauri, Latinized from η Tauri and abbreviated Eta Tau or η Tau. It is about 440 light-years distant. Nomenclature ''Eta Tauri'' is the star's Bayer designation. The name ''Alcyone'' originates in Greek mythology; she is one of the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione known as the Pleiades. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included ''Alcyone'' for this star. It is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. In Chinese, (), meaning ''Hairy Head'', refers to an asterism consisting Alcyone, Electra, Taygeta, Ast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleione (star)
PleionePronounced or is a binary star system in the Pleiades open cluster, star cluster, within the Taurus constellation. It has the variable star designation BU Tauri (BU Tau) and the Flamsteed designation 28 Tauri (28 Tau). Pleione is located close on the sky to the brighter star Atlas (star), Atlas, so is difficult for stargazers to distinguish with the naked eye despite being a fifth magnitude star. The brighter star of the Pleione binary pair, component A, is a hot B-type star, type B star 184 times more luminous than the Sun. It is classified as 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. The primary star rotates rapidly, close to its Stellar rotation#Equatorial bulge, breakup velocity, even faster than Achernar. Although some research on the companion star has been performed, stellar characteristics of the orbiting B component are not w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlas (star)
Atlas , designation 27 Tauri, is a Star system#Triple star systems, triple star system in the constellation of Taurus (constellation), Taurus. It is a member of the Pleiades, an Open cluster, open star cluster (Messier object, M45). It is 431 light-years (132 parsecs) away, and is 3.92 degrees north of the ecliptic. Nomenclature ''27 Tauri'' is the star's Flamsteed designation. In 2016 the International Astronomical Union organized a IAU Working Group on Star Names, Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name ''Atlas'' for this star on 21 August 2016 and it is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. Mythology Atlas (mythology), Atlas was a Titan (mythology), Titan and the father of the Pleiades (Greek mythology), Pleiades sisters in Greek mythology. Properties Atlas is a triple star system, with the inner pair orbiting in under a year and the outer star orbiting in 260 years. The outer s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Matariki Stars
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Easter Island
Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called ''moai'', which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park. Experts differ on when the island's Polynesian inhabitants first reached the island. While many in the research community cited evidence that they arrived around the year 800, a 2007 study provided compelling evidence suggesting their arrival was closer to 1200. The inhabitants created a thriving and industrious culture, as evidenced by the island's numerous enormous stone ''moai'' and other artifacts. Land clearing for cultivation and the introduction of the Polynesian rat led to gradual deforestation. By the time of European arrival in 1722, the i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
