Pay close attention to your everyday world and you'll soon realize that we're surrounded by astronomical words. Go to a movie theater and you may see a film by Orion Pictures, or stay home and watch a DVD on your Quasar TV. So much of our popular culture — from Polaris submarines to Betelgeuse, the zany character portrayed by Michael Keaton — have names that originate in the stars.

Automobile manufacturers really enjoy using celestial words to name their vehicles: Taurus, Saturn, Nova, Astro, Mercury, Eclipse, Subaru ...

Subaru?

Yes. In historical Japanese sky lore Subaru represents the Pleiades, one of the most noticeable star clusters in all the sky.

To see this tiny, shimmering cluster — also known as the Seven Sisters —simply go outdoors after dark this week and look low toward the eastern sky.

In Western culture, the name Pleiades is believed to derive from the Greek word meaning to sail, because when the grouping was seen to rise just before the sun, it was a sign of the opening of the navigational season in the Mediterranean world.

Eastern culture, however, saw it quite differently. Much of the Subaru myth arrived in Japan from China, and the term may have Buddhist roots. The word is generally thought to mean "united" or "getting together". The Chinese character for Subaru, Kanji, also has connotations of being bright, and so the bright Subaru stars seem to "get together in one place".

Over time, the lore was modified for local religious customs, or planting and fishing seasons. For example, in some farming regions, the stars of Subaru were seen as seeds, and their rising with the springtime sun signaled a time for planting. In some coastal areas, Japanese fishermen saw a fishnet made of stones and bamboo, a sumaru in Japanese, and in a similar way, used the rising and setting of this bright net to determine when to cast their own nets into the sea.

As in Western lore, the Japanese often saw seven stars instead of six in Subaru. Travelers to Japan may be familiar with "Shichifukujin," or seven happy gods, and locals in some areas still call the Pleiades Shichifukujin.

What's most remarkable is that you can see the Pleiades even in broad daylight. Just walk around a parking lot and you're sure to spot them emblazoned on the logo of any Subaru automobile!

Dennis Mammana's photographic exhibition spanning 40 years, "Capturing the Cosmos: A Personal Journey," is on display through Nov. 23 at the Borrego Art Institute Gallery in Borrego Springs, Calif. To find out more about Dennis Mammana and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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