The Seven Sisters Story

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The Pleiades

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The Pleiades – also known as the Seven Sisters – is an open star cluster moving through space as a gravitationally connected system. Visible in both the early evening of December and the pre-dawn skies of August, they appear enveloped in a gossamer cloud of star dust – which in fact they are. The name ‘Seven Sisters’ is a bit on of an enigma, as generally only six of the stars are visible to the naked eye (depending on the acuity of the observer’s eyesight and atmospheric conditions) – the seventh is considered the ‘lost pleiad’. And because the apparent magnitude of several of the Sisters hovers on the edge of visibility, you can play a game of ‘hide-and-seek’ with the cluster.  Look directly at the stars and only the brightest are visible, but glance slightly away and the less obvious Sisters reveal themselves in your peripheral vision. Snap your eyes back to try to catch the more demure Sisters by surprise and alas, it never works – they are indeed elusive sirens.

There are actually nine named stars in the cluster – two parents, Atlas and Pleione, and the Sisters themselves, Alcyone, Electra, Maia, Merope, Taygeta, Celaeno and Asterope. According to Inseok Song, a staff scientist at NASA's Spitzer Science Center, “the cluster actually contains some 1400 stars” – http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/rocky-planets-are-forming-in-the-40289.aspx

A more extensive and interesting discussion of the Seven Sisters is available on the website of a British architectural firm, Pleiade Associates – http://www.pleiade.org/pleiades_03.html


Photo Credits (right)

Top photo: NASA/ESA/AURA/Caltech

Bottom photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/J.Stauffer(SSC/Caltech)

 

Why "Seven Sisters Environmental"?

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Several reasons – the diamond-like glint of the Pleiades has always inspired thoughts of ‘bigger picture’ issues – as petty frustrations build, one humbling glance at the Sisters often leads to a fresh perspective on stale challenges. The Sisters remind us that staring intently at a problem does not always reveal all the constituent elements relevant to finding a solution.

Coincidentally, the ‘Seven Sisters’ is a historical reference to the US and European companies that dominated the oil industry in the mid-20th century. An Italian industrialist, Enrico Mattei (1906-1962), is credited with first coining the term. After World War II, Mattei was appointed leadership of the Italian Petroleum Agency (AGIP). Rather than dismantle the Agency as instructed, Mattei actually expanded and re-organized the company into a worthy competitor of the Seven Sisters – originally identified as:

1.            Standard Oil of New Jersy (later Esso, then Exxon, now ExxonMobil)

2.            Royal Dutch Shell

3.            Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later British Petroleum, merged with Amoco, now simply BP)

4.            Standard Oil of New York (later Mobil, now merged with ExxonMobil)

5.            Standard Oil of California (later Chevron).

6.            Gulf Oil (merged with Chevron)

7.            Texaco (merged with Chevron in 2001)

In 2007 Carola Hoyos identified 'the new Seven Sisters' in a Financial Times article exploring the profound shift in petroleum based power from west to east over the last three decades. The new Seven Sisters includes the nationalized oil companies of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, and China. 

Because we derive inspiration from the Pleiades and our primary client base is the oil and gas industry, as the idea for the company incubated, the name seemed to rise to the surface as the obvious choice.

Sources:
1. Hoyos, Carlos, The new Seven Sisters: oil and gas giants dwarf western rivals, The Financial Times, March 11, 2007. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/471ae1b8-d001-11db-94cb-000b5df10621.html

2. Enrico Mattei biography entry, www.answers.com

3. Wikipedia entries for Enrico Mattei, Pleiades, and Seven Sisters