The Hyades cluster forms the head of Taurus the bull in the zodiac constellation. It is one of the most famous open clusters—a group of stars that all formed at the same time from the same cloud of gas. This cluster was thought to be 625 million years old, however new research suggests that the Hyades is much older. This makes for a slightly awkward situation; the Hyades underpins our understanding of stellar ages. If its age is wrong then a lot of other ages are wrong too.
This conflict may be resolved soon—the Kepler spacecraft (now reincarnated as K2) is currently observing the Hyades. It will be able to detect asteroseismic oscillations in some of its stars, revealing their true ages. Hundreds of inferences rely on the age of this cluster—unveiling the mystery will be an exciting moment for stellar astronomy!
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