Maia (star)

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 Tauri is the star's Flamsteed designation. Although it is about the 15th brightest star in Taurus, Maia does not have a Bayer designation, but does have the Bright Star Catalogue designation HR 1149 and the Henry Draper Catalogue designation HD 23408. It has been listed as double star WDS J03458+2422; one companion is a 14th magnitude star nearly away that is probably an unrelated background object. The primary is listed as being double following observations of a lunar occultation, but later observations have failed to find any evidence of it being double.{{cite journal == Description ==

The distance to Maia has been measured by the Gaia spacecraft using the annual parallax method. In Gaia Data Release 2, the parallax is given as , corresponding to a distance of . The 2007 new Hipparcos reduction gives a statistically more accurate parallax of , indicating a distance of . while VLBI measurements of multiple members give a distance of . Maia's visual magnitude is 3.87, requiring darker skies to be seen. Its bolometric luminosity is 501 times that of the sun, mostly in the ultraviolet, thus suggesting a radius of 3.6 times that of the Sun and a mass of 3.8 solar masses. for Maia, adapted from White et al. (2017) Maia was thought to be a variable star by astronomer Otto Struve. He proposed a class of stars known as Maia variables, which included Gamma Ursae Minoris. Examination of the Hipparcos data for Maia and some others in the class found no evidence of variability. On the other hand, White et al. found low amplitude, but unambiguous, variability in Maia's brightness as seen by Kepler/K2, with a period of 10.3 days, which they attribute to the rotation of a starspot. It is now thought Maia is not a Maia variable, but a rotating variable. It is the only member of the New General Catalogue discovered photographically. ==Mythology==

with his mother Maia. Detail of the side B of an Attic red-figure belly-amphora, ca. 500 BC. Maia was the oldest of seven beautiful sisters known as the Pleiades. She was impregnated by Zeus, thereby conceiving Hermes, the messenger god. As Maia and the Pleiades are visible in the winter night sky along with the constellation Orion, the Greek myths tell of Maia and her sisters being pursued by the giant huntsman and turned into doves to preserve their safety. == References ==