The galaxy eats its own: The head of Taurus is being shredded by the Milky Way

If you go outside in late winter/early spring and look just to the right of Orion (for northern hemisphere observers), you'll see a V of brightish stars marking the head of Taurus the Bull. The bulk of these stars are actually part of a physical stellar cluster called the Hyades*, and at about 145 light years away it's the closest such cluster to Earth.

For now. The cluster is dissolving over time, the stars inside it slowly drifting away. This has been known for some time, and many stars in th...