![056-Pleione [056] Pleione – This illustration by Don Dixon depicts the Be star Pleione (28 Tauri), a prominent member of the Pleiades open cluster (M45). The star is shown rotating at near-critical velocity, causing it to become highly oblate and shed material into a circumstellar decretion disk of ionized hydrogen. The scene, viewed from a hypothetical nearby planet, highlights the "shell star" phenomenon where the equatorial disk produces distinct absorption lines in the stellar spectrum. ; acrylic and gouache on illustration board ; 1975](056-pleione-dixon.jpg)
[056] Pleione – This illustration by Don Dixon depicts the Be star Pleione (28 Tauri), a prominent member of the Pleiades open cluster (M45). The star is shown rotating at near-critical velocity, causing it to become highly oblate and shed material into a circumstellar decretion disk of ionized hydrogen. The scene, viewed from a hypothetical nearby planet, highlights the "shell star" phenomenon where the equatorial disk produces distinct absorption lines in the stellar spectrum. ; acrylic and gouache on illustration board ; 1975
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![056-Pleione [056] Pleione – This illustration by Don Dixon depicts the Be star Pleione (28 Tauri), a prominent member of the Pleiades open cluster (M45). The star is shown rotating at near-critical velocity, causing it to become highly oblate and shed material into a circumstellar decretion disk of ionized hydrogen. The scene, viewed from a hypothetical nearby planet, highlights the "shell star" phenomenon where the equatorial disk produces distinct absorption lines in the stellar spectrum. ; acrylic and gouache on illustration board ; 1975](../index.html#img=056-pleione-dixon.jpg)