Krithikka Nakshatra captured in between Aries and Taurus, mapped with mobile astrophotography
The Krithikka Nakshatra is a star cluster, which is more or less what it sounds like — a group of stars held together in space by gravity.
There are two types of star cluster: open and globular. Globular clusters are made up of tens of thousands to millions of mostly old stars packed together in a spherical shape. Open clusters are made up of younger stars, the stars are more spread out, and the total number of stars is lower (between a hundred or so to a thousand). The Krithikka lunar mansion/ Pleiadas is an example of an open cluster. The V-shaped group of stars that made up the face of Taurus is another open star cluster. That one is called the Hyades, with major star being Rohini/Aldeberan.
The Pleiades/Krithikka is made up of at least 1,000 stars. These are mainly young stars, between 75 million and 150 million years old (for comparison, our sun is a little over 4.5 billion years old). Many of the stars are hot blue stars, and there are also many brown dwarfs (objects that aren’t quite massive enough to keep fusion going in the core).
Padas in Nakshatra — a basic introduction
There are multiple views regarding how the 4 padas are obtained in a Nakshatra. Firstly, each sign has two full nakshatras and a quarter nakshatra. Hence, their equal division makes them equivalent to the navamsha. Which means, each nakshatra pada symbolizes a navamsha and hence difference in its subtle attributes. The first pada of Ashwini is Aries navamsha, second is Taurus and so on.
The other opinion that prevails is that the four padas are the four elements. The first being fire, second earth, third air, and fourth water. The order is the same as for signs and coincides with the element of the navamsha sign. For Ashwini, the first pada falls in Aries which is a fiery sign. Second is Taurus which is earth and so on.
There is also an approach that the 4 padas can be classified in two other different ways. One way is on the 4 directions as north, east, west and south. Other way is by the 4 principles of Dharma, Artha, Kama & Moksha.
Hence, each nakashatra pada irrespective of the above approaches identifies subtle differences in its characteristics. It is the minute variation from one pada to another that gives the four quarters of the day subtle variations even though the nakshatra remains the same.
In the yogic astronomy, each of 27 nakshatra as divided into four equal sectors called padas or steps when multiplied as 4 by 27 and it equals 108. These 108 units mark the 108 steps that the Earth takes through space. Each nakshatra corresponds to one half of the lunar orbit around the Earth. The cycles within the human body(for female there is an obvious moon based body cycle and for male it is more subtle) respond and correspond to that is the belief.
Now, let us see our Krithikka Nakshatra captured in the night sky in between Aries and Taurus, though by modern astronomy, Pleiades completely falls in Taurus, by vedic astronomy, first pada falls in Mesha and the other 3 padas are in Rishabha based on the minute variation they occupy. Eta Tauri, Alcyone is the most prominent star with magnitude 2.8.
Krittika is also the name of the Chandramana month Kaartika. On the full moon day of Kaartika, the moon is near Krittika Nakshatra. In the Raashi/Nakshatra translation, both the Ashwini/Bharani belong to Mesha Raashi. The Krittika is considered as 1/4 a part of Mesha (Aries) and 3/4 a part of Rishbha (Taurus).
The Ashwini/Bharani Nakshatras stars are separated by 50 minutes of time or about 12.5 degrees (E-W), while Bharani and Krittika are separated by about 55 minutes corresponding to about 13.75 degrees (E-W). Both these gaps are near the ideal 13.33 degrees E-W gap between stars.
We will see Rohini Nakshatra next. Have a great day :-)
