Alfred Shout

Alfred John Shout, VC, MC (8 August 1882 – 11 August 1915) was a New Zealand–born soldier and an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. Shout was posthumously awarded the VC for his actions at Lone Pine in August 1915, during the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War. After Ottoman forces had counterattacked and seized a large stretch of the Australians' front line, Shout gathered a small party of men and charged down one trench throwing bombs. He killed eight Turkish soldiers, and managed to clear others to retake the trench. In a similar action later that day, and supported by another officer, he recaptured further ground amid hard fighting. In the final push forward, Shout simultaneously lit three bombs to lob at the enemy. He successfully threw two, but just as the third left his hand it detonated. Shout was grievously wounded; he died two days later.

Born in Wellington, Shout had served in the Second Boer War as a teenager. He rose to sergeant and was mentioned in despatches for saving a wounded man before being discharged in 1902. He remained in South Africa for the next five years, serving as an artilleryman in the Cape Colonial Forces from 1903. With his Australian-born wife and their daughter, Shout immigrated to Sydney in 1907. The family settled in Darlington, where Shout worked for Resch's Brewery as a carpenter and joiner. He was also active in the part-time Citizens' Forces, being commissioned just prior to the outbreak of the First World War. In August 1914, he joined in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) for active service overseas and was appointed a lieutenant in the 1st Battalion. After training in Egypt, he took part in the Anzac landings at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. For his leadership during the invasion and its immediate aftermath, Shout was awarded the Military Cross and later mentioned in despatches. Shout's three gallantry awards at Gallipoli made him the most highly decorated member of the AIF for the campaign.

## Early life

Alfred John Shout was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 8 August 1882. He was the eldest of nine children to an English-born father, John Richard Shout, and Irish mother, Agnes Mary (née Kelly, formerly McGovern). Information on Alfred Shout's early life is rather scant and the details differ between sources, but according to his First World War attestation form he was privately educated. In early 1900, Shout travelled to South Africa with his elder half-brother, William McGovern. The brothers sought to join one of the colonial contingents then engaged in the Second Boer War; Alfred enlisted in the newly raised Border Horse on 17 February 1900, while William (using the surname Shout) found a place in Bethune's Mounted Infantry. The Border Horse was an irregular colonial force formed in eastern Cape Colony, and Shout was allotted to the unit's No. 1 Company with the service number 9216.

Serving at Wittebergen, Transvaal, and in the Cape Colony with the Border Horse, Shout was twice wounded, including once in the chest. In an action at Thabaksberg on 29 January 1901, the then Lance Corporal Shout assisted in maintaining the position of his men. At one point during the engagement, he ventured out under heavy rifle fire to retrieve a wounded man, and brought him back to a covered position; Shout's bravery in this action earned him a mention in despatches. He was promoted to sergeant on 7 May 1901, and discharged from the Border Horse 16 days later. He then served with the Stellenbosch District Mounted Troop until 1902. Shout was issued the Queen's South Africa Medal with "Wittebergen", "Transvaal" and "Cape Colony" clasps, and the King's South Africa Medal with the clasps "South Africa 1901" and "South Africa 1902" for his service in the Boer War.

Shout decided to remain in South Africa after his discharge and, in 1903, enlisted in the Cape Colonial Forces. He was made a sergeant in Prince Alfred's Own Cape Field Artillery, with which he served until 1907. While living in Cape Town, Shout married Rose Alice Howe, an Australian from Sydney, in 1905; the couple had a daughter named Florence in June that year. In 1907, the Shout family immigrated to Australia, settling in the Sydney suburb of Darlington. Here, Shout gained employment as a carpenter and joiner at Resch's Brewery. He also joined the 29th Infantry Regiment of the part-time Citizens' Forces shortly after arriving in Sydney, was a foundation member of the 29th Infantry Club, and a regular visitor at the Randwick rifle range, where he gained a reputation as an excellent shot. Shout was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Citizens' Forces on 16 June 1914.

## First World War

Following the outbreak of the First World War, Shout applied for a commission in the newly raised Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 18 August 1914. The AIF was formed as Australia's expeditionary force to fight in the war, as the Citizens' Forces were restricted to home defence per the Defence Act (1903). Shout's application was accepted on 28 August and he was posted to the 1st Battalion as a second lieutenant in F Company, commanded by Lieutenant Cecil Sasse. According to his medical assessment at the time, Shout stood at 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m), weighed 12 stone (170 lb; 76 kg), and was recorded as having "good" eyesight. On 18 October, the 1st Battalion embarked for the Middle East, with Shout boarding HMAT Afric at Sydney. Sailing via Albany, Western Australia, the troopship arrived in Egypt on 2 December. Shortly after, the 1st Battalion was reorganised into four companies; Shout was allotted to D Company as a platoon commander. The battalion spent the next four months training in the Egyptian desert, during which time Shout was promoted lieutenant on 1 February 1915.

### Gallipoli

#### Landing at Anzac

As part of an endeavour to defeat the Ottoman Empire and force a supply route through to Russia via the Bosporus and the Black Sea, the British War Council formulated a plan to invade the Gallipoli Peninsula. On 25 April 1915, the men of the 1st Australian Brigade—of which the 1st Battalion was part—landed at Anzac Cove between 05:30 and 07:30 among the second and third waves of Australian troops. The 1st Battalion was meant to be held in reserve, but due to heavy casualties and confusion the unit soon went into action. Following a request for reinforcements, Shout moved up with one of the 1st Battalion's companies to the hill feature Baby 700. Arriving at the position around 11:00, he led a party to hold the rear left flank of the hill as part of the Australians' rearguard action. The Australian position on Baby 700 had become dire by that afternoon, a situation compounded by the small number of available infantry in the area and the complete lack of artillery support, when the Turkish forces launched a counter-assault. By this time, Shout and Lieutenant Leslie Morshead of the 2nd Battalion were the only two surviving officers in their sector of the line. At 16:30, the Turks broke through the defensive line and the Australians were forced to abandon their position on the hill. Shout was one of the last to evacuate, and withdrew down towards the beach. During his retreat, Shout encountered Lieutenant Colonel George Braund, commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, on Walker's Ridge. Braund dispatched Shout to the beach with a request for reinforcements. Shout duly relayed the message, and was immediately tasked with leading 200 stray men to reinforce the thin defensive line near Braund's position. Shout established a post at the base of the ridge as dusk began to fall, and his men started to dig in.

By 27 April, Shout had been continually in action without rest since the landing. That morning, he was sent to Walker's Ridge to replace a wounded officer in a vulnerable sector of the line. As the Turks occupied positions in the scrub just beyond the Australians' trench, Shout and his men were subjected to accurate and heavy rifle fire throughout the day. Accordingly, Shout reorganised his men and, exposing himself to the Turks' fire, ventured out to reconnoitre the enemy's position. He was then able to accurately direct the rifle fire of his men. Though wounded early in the action, Shout refused to leave the frontline. As the fighting wore on, the Turks closed in on the Australian trench and Shout led a bayonet charge to hold them at bay. He was later wounded a second time, a bullet passing through his arm and rendering it useless. Still, he refused to leave. Soon after, he was wounded a third time and evacuated for medical treatment. During the engagement, Shout had carried several wounded men away from the frontline. Cited for his "conspicuous courage and ability" at Walker's Ridge, Shout was awarded the Military Cross, becoming the first member of his battalion to receive the decoration. The notification and accompanying citation for the award was published in a supplement to the London Gazette on 3 July 1915.

Shout's wounds proved to be relatively light and he soon rejoined the 1st Battalion. On 11 May, he was wounded once again, suffering a second gunshot to his arm. He was evacuated to the hospital ship HMHS Gascon, but rejoined his unit fifteen days later. On 20 May, Shout was mentioned in the despatch of General Sir Ian Hamilton, General Officer Commanding the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, in recognition of his efforts from the landing on 25 April to 5 May. He was promoted to captain on 29 July.

#### Lone Pine

On 6 August 1915, the 1st Australian Brigade launched an assault on the impregnable Ottoman position at Lone Pine. Led by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions (with the 1st Battalion held in reserve), the attack was orchestrated to divert Turkish attention and reinforcements away from the primary operation to the north of the line as the British sought to capture the Sari Bair ridge. The Australian assault at Lone Pine commenced in the late afternoon just before sunset. An artillery barrage had preceded the attack, though according to historian Robin Prior the results had been "feeble" and the advance was hard-fought. Nonetheless, within half an hour the Australians had breached the Turkish trenches and seized their objectives. Despite the initial success, Australian casualties had been heavy and the 1st Battalion was ordered forward in preparation for the expected Turkish counter-attack. The battle descended into fierce fighting over the next three days, often in the form of what Bryan Perrett has described as "deadly bombing duels".

At 09:00 on 9 August, the day after Shout's 33rd birthday, the 1st Battalion relieved the 3rd Battalion on the Lone Pine front at a position known as Sasse's Sap. Soon after, the Turks renewed their attack and recaptured a stretch of the sap. Determined to rout these men, and supported by a few of his own soldiers, Shout charged down one trench throwing bombs. He killed eight Turks, and managed to clear others to retake the trench. Meanwhile, Captain Cecil Sasse—Shout's former company commander—gathered three men with sandbags, and cleared another 20-yard (18 m) section of the sap. Armed with a rifle, Sasse had charged down the trench at the head of his men. His party soon discovered a group of Turks focused on, and firing in, a different direction; Sasse and his men killed 12 and forced the remainder to flee. Sasse continued to keep the Turks at bay with rifle fire as his men barricaded the trench with the sandbags.

Sasse, described by official historian Charles Bean as "elated" by the achievement that morning, approached Shout with a proposal to repeat the feat. Shout agreed. The duo assembled a party of eight men this time to carry sandbags and extra bombs. Having reconnoitred the Turks' position, the previously erected barricade was shoved down and, side-by-side, Sasse and Shout ran forward. While Sasse fired his revolver and Shout lobbed bombs, the Australian party advanced in short stages along the trench and built a barricade each time they halted. Bean wrote that Shout fought with "splendid gaiety" throughout the assault, historian Stephen Snelling adding that Shout was "laughing and joking and cheering his men on". As the Australians progressed, the two officers located a suitable position to raise their final barricade. Readying himself for this final push forward, Shout simultaneously lit three bombs. He successfully threw two, but the third burst just as it was leaving his hand. Shout was grievously wounded; the explosion incinerated his right hand and part of the left, destroyed his left eye, cut his cheek, and caused burns to his chest and leg. Despite the severity of his wounds Shout remained conscious and was dragged out of the firing line, where, "still cheerful" according to Bean, he "drank tea and sent a message to his wife".

## Victoria Cross and legacy

Shout was evacuated from the Gallipoli Peninsula to the hospital ship Euralia shortly after he was wounded. He died two days later, on 11 August 1915, and was buried at sea. Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Bennett, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, labelled Shout's actions at Lone Pine as "brilliant" and described him as "unapproachable in his splendid leadership". Although Sasse's Sap was not completely recovered, Shout was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) in recognition of his efforts to recover much of the trench system, while Sasse received the Distinguished Service Order. Shout's VC was the seventh and final awarded to the AIF for the operations around Lone Pine, and the second to a member of the 1st Battalion. Shout's three gallantry awards from Gallipoli also marked him as the most highly decorated member of the AIF for the campaign.

The announcement of Shout's VC was promulgated in the London Gazette on 15 October 1915, reading:

> War Office, 15th October, 1915.
>
> His Majesty The KING has been pleased to award the Victoria Cross to the undermentioned Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Men: —
>
> Captain Alfred John Shout, 1st Battalion, Australian Imperial Force.
>
> For most conspicuous bravery at Lone Pine trenches, in the Gallipoli Peninsula.
>
> On the morning of the 9th August, 1915, with a very small party Captain Shout charged down trenches strongly occupied by the enemy, and personally threw four bombs among them, killing eight and routing the remainder.
>
> In the afternoon of the same day, from the position gained in the morning, he captured a further length of trench under similar conditions, and continued personally to bomb the enemy at close range under very heavy fire until he was severely wounded, losing his right hand and left eye.
>
> This most gallant officer has since succumbed to his injuries.

There was considerable confusion following Shout's death. Army Headquarters in Melbourne cabled Rose Shout on 15 August to inform her that Alfred had been wounded. Confirmation of his death was conveyed to her, but was contradicted by a later cable on 23 August. This communication stated that Shout was not dead, but alive and returning to Australia aboard the Themistocles. The press in Australia published news of his pending return, adding that he would arrive in Sydney in mid-September. This proved to be a case of mistaken identity. Shout's death was confirmed by 26 August; a Lieutenant A. J. Shirt, also of the 1st Battalion, was the officer aboard the Themistocles. Rose Shout received a ministerial apology for the clerical errors and distress caused.

Shout is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial, and he was remembered by the citizens of Darlington with a memorial plaque. The governor-general, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, unveiled the plaque at the Darlington Town Hall in a ceremony on 20 November 1915. The plaque has since entered the collections of the Victoria Barracks Museum in Paddington. In 1916, to honour "the heroic and glorious deeds and death" of Shout and relieve the financial strain placed upon his wife, a collection was taken up by local citizens in Sydney to provide Rose and their daughter with a house.

Until 2006 Shout's medals were in the possession of his family. That year, Shout's grandson decided to sell the medals to relieve some of the family debt and financial burdens. At the time Shout's VC was the only one awarded to a member of the AIF at Gallipoli that was not in the collection of the Australian War Memorial. The medals were auctioned by the Sydney firm Bonhams & Goodman on 24 July 2006, and realised a world record hammer price of AU\$1 million. The sale surpassed, almost doubling, the previous auction records for a medal—set by the Naval Gold Medal awarded to Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet—and the price paid for a VC, previously held by that awarded to Norman Cyril Jackson. Shout's medals were purchased by media mogul Kerry Stokes, who subsequently donated the set to the Australian War Memorial for display in the Hall of Valour.

New Zealand–born Australian soldier (1882–1915)

Australian Gallipoli campaign recipients of the Victoria Cross

Australian military personnel killed in World War I

New Zealand military personnel of the Second Boer War


Pleiades

The Pleiades (/ˈpliː.ədiːz, ˈpleɪ-, ˈplaɪ-/), also known as the Seven Sisters, Messier 45, and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth. It is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the most obvious cluster to the naked eye in the night sky. It is also observed to house the reflection nebula NGC 1432, an HII region.

The cluster is dominated by hot blue luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing. This dust cloud is estimated to be moving at a speed of approximately 18 km/s relative to the stars in the cluster.

Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades were probably formed from a compact configuration that resembled the Orion Nebula. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood.

Together with the open star cluster of the Hyades, the Pleiades form the Golden Gate of the Ecliptic.

## Origin of name

The name of the Pleiades comes from Ancient Greek: Πλειάδες. It probably derives from plein ("to sail") because of the cluster's importance in delimiting the sailing season in the Mediterranean Sea: "the season of navigation began with their heliacal rising". However, in mythology the name was used for the Pleiades, seven divine sisters, the name supposedly deriving from that of their mother Pleione and effectively meaning "daughters of Pleione". In reality, the name of the star cluster almost certainly came first, and Pleione was invented to explain it.

## Astronomical role of M45 in antiquity

The M45 group played an important role in ancient times for the establishment of calendars thanks to the combination of two remarkable elements. The first, which is still valid, is its unique and perfectly identifiable aspect on the celestial vault near the ecliptic. The second, essential for the Ancients, is that in the middle of the third millennium BC., this asterism marked the vernal point. The importance of this asterism is also evident in northern Europe, on the Nebra sky disc, dating around 1600 BC. and where it is represented beside the Sun and the Moon.

It is also this asterism that indicates the beginning of the ancient calendars. Several examples can be given:

- In ancient India, it constitutes, in the Atharvaveda, compiled around 1200-1000 BC, the first nakṣatra (Sanskrit name for lunar stations), which is called क्रृत्तिका Kṛittika, a revealing name since it literally means "the Cuttings", i.e. "Those that mark the break of the year". This is so before the classic list lowers this nakṣatra to third place, henceforth giving the first to the couple βγ Arietis which, notably in Hipparchus, at that time ,marks the equinox.
- In Mesopotamia, the MUL.APIN compendium, the first known Mesopotamian astronomy treatise, discovered at Nineveh in the library of Assurbanipal and dating from no later than 627 BC., presents a list of gods [holders of stars] who stand on "the path of the Moon", a list which begins with mul.MUL.
- In Greece, the Πλειάδες, are a group whose name is probably functional before having a mythological meaning, as André Lebœuffle points out, who has his preference for the explanation by the Indo-European root \*pe/ol-/pl- which expresses the idea of multiplicity, crowd, assembly.
- We find a similar thing among the Ancient Arabs who begin their old parapegma type calendar, that of the anwā, with M45 under the name of الثريّا al-Ṯurayyā. And this before their classic calendar, that of the manāzil al-qamar or "lunar stations", also begins with the couple βγ Arietis whose name, الشرطان al- Šaraṭān, is literally "the Two Marks [of entering the equinox]"

So when M45 leaves the vernal point, the asterism still remains important, both functionally and symbolically. In addition to the changes we have just seen in the calendars based on the lunar stations among the Indians and the Arabs, consider the case of an ancient Yemeni calendar in which the months are designated according to an astronomical criterion which caused it to be named Calendar of the Pleiades: the month of ḫams, literally "five", is that during which the Sun and al-Ṯurayyā, ie the Pleiades, deviate away from each other by five movements of the Moon, i.e. five times the path that the "Moon" travels on average in one day and one night, to use the terminology of cAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sūfī al-Ṣūfī.

## Nomenclature and mythology

The Pleiades are a prominent sight in winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and are easily visible from mid-Southern latitudes. They have been known since antiquity to cultures all around the world, including the Celts (Welsh: Tŵr Tewdws, Irish: Streoillín); pre-colonial Filipinos (who called it Mapúlon, Mulo‐pulo, or Muró‐púro, among other names) for whom it indicated the beginning of the year, Hawaiians (who call them Makaliʻi), Māori (who call them Matariki), Indigenous Australians (from several traditions), the Achaemenid Empire, whence in Farsi (who called them پروین Parvīn or پروی Parvī), the Arabs (who call them الثريا al-Thurayyā), the Chinese (who called them 昴 mǎo), the Quechua (who call them Qullqa or the storehouse), the Japanese (who call them Subaru (昴, スバル)), the Maya, the Aztec, the Sioux, the Kiowa, and the Cherokee. In Hinduism, the Pleiades are known as Kṛttikā and are scripturally associated with the war-god Kartikeya and are also identified or associated with the Saptamatrika(s) (Seven Mothers). Hindus celebrate the first day (new moon) of the month of Kartik as Diwali, a festival of abundance and lamps. The Pleiades are also mentioned three times in the Bible.

The earliest-known depiction of the Pleiades is likely a Northern German Bronze Age artifact known as the Nebra sky disk, dated to approximately 1600 BC. The Babylonian star catalogues name the Pleiades MULMUL (), meaning "stars" (literally "star star"), and they head the list of stars along the ecliptic, reflecting the fact that they were close to the point of vernal equinox around the 23rd century BC. The Ancient Egyptians may have used the names "Followers" and "Ennead" in the prognosis texts of the Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days of papyrus Cairo 86637. Some Greek astronomers considered them to be a distinct constellation, and they are mentioned by Hesiod's Works and Days, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and the Geoponica. The Pleiades was the most well-known star among pre-Islamic Arabs and so often simply referred to as "the Star" (al Najm). Some scholars of Islam suggested that the Pleiades (ath-thurayya) are the "star" mentioned in Surah An-Najm ("The Star") in the Quran.

On numerous cylinder seals from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC., M 45 is represented by seven points, while the Seven Gods appear, on low-reliefs of Neo-Assyrian royal palaces, wearing long open robes and large cylindrical headdresses surmounted by short feathers and adorned of three frontal rows of horns and a crown of feathers, while carrying both an ax and a knife, as well as a bow and a quiver

### Subaru

In Japan, the cluster is mentioned under the name Mutsuraboshi ("six stars") in the 8th-century Kojiki. The cluster is now known in Japan as Subaru.

It was chosen as the name of the Subaru Telescope which is the 8.2-meter (320 in) flagship telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. It is located at the Mauna Kea Observatory on the island of Hawaii. It had the largest monolithic primary mirror in the world from its commissioning in 1998 until 2005.

It was chosen as the brand name of Subaru automobiles to reflect the origins of the firm as the joining of five companies, and is depicted in the firm's six-star logo.

## Observational history

Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to view the Pleiades through a telescope. He thereby discovered that the cluster contains many stars too dim to be seen with the naked eye. He published his observations, including a sketch of the Pleiades showing 36 stars, in his treatise Sidereus Nuncius in March 1610.

The Pleiades have long been known to be a physically related group of stars rather than any chance alignment. John Michell calculated in 1767 that the probability of a chance alignment of so many bright stars was only 1 in 500,000, and so surmised that the Pleiades and many other clusters of stars must be physically related. When studies were first made of the stars' proper motions, it was found that they are all moving in the same direction across the sky, at the same rate, further demonstrating that they were related.

Charles Messier measured the position of the cluster and included it as M45 in his catalogue of comet-like objects, published in 1771. Along with the Orion Nebula and the Praesepe cluster, Messier's inclusion of the Pleiades has been noted as curious, as most of Messier's objects were much fainter and more easily confused with comets—something that seems scarcely possible for the Pleiades. One possibility is that Messier simply wanted to have a larger catalogue than his scientific rival Lacaille, whose 1755 catalogue contained 42 objects, and so he added some bright, well-known objects to boost his list.

Edme-Sébastien Jeaurat then drew in 1782 a map of 64 stars of the Pleiades from his observations in 1779, which he published in 1786.

## Distance

The distance to the Pleiades can be used as a key first step to calibrate the cosmic distance ladder. As the cluster is relatively close to the Earth, its distance should be relatively easy to measure and has been estimated by many methods. Accurate knowledge of the distance allows astronomers to plot a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram for the cluster, which, when compared to those plotted for clusters whose distance is not known, allows their distances to be estimated. Other methods can then extend the distance scale from open clusters to galaxies and clusters of galaxies, and a cosmic distance ladder can be constructed. Ultimately astronomers' understanding of the age and future evolution of the universe is influenced by their knowledge of the distance to the Pleiades. Yet some authors argue that the controversy over the distance to the Pleiades discussed below is a red herring, since the cosmic distance ladder can (presently) rely on a suite of other nearby clusters where consensus exists regarding the distances as established by the Hipparcos satellite and independent means (e.g., the Hyades, Coma Berenices cluster, etc.).

Measurements of the distance have elicited much controversy. Results prior to the launch of the Hipparcos satellite generally found that the Pleiades were about 135 parsecs (pc) away from Earth. Data from Hipparcos yielded a surprising result, namely a distance of only 118 pc by measuring the parallax of stars in the cluster—a technique that should yield the most direct and accurate results. Later work consistently argued that the Hipparcos distance measurement for the Pleiades was erroneous. In particular, distances derived to the cluster via the Hubble Space Telescope and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting (so-called "spectroscopic parallax") favor a distance between 135 and 140 pc; a dynamical distance from optical interferometric observations of the Pleiad double Atlas favors a distance of 133 to 137 pc. However, the author of the 2007–2009 catalog of revised Hipparcos parallaxes reasserted that the distance to the Pleiades is \~120 pc and challenged the dissenting evidence. In 2012, Francis and Anderson proposed that a systematic effect on Hipparcos parallax errors for stars in clusters biases calculation using the weighted mean and gave a Hipparcos parallax distance of 126 pc and photometric distance 132 pc based on stars in the AB Doradus, Tucana-Horologium, and Beta Pictoris moving groups, which are all similar in age and composition to the Pleiades. Those authors note that the difference between these results can be attributed to random error. More recent results using very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) (August 2014) and preliminary solutions using Gaia Data Release 1 (September 2016) and Gaia Data Release 2 (August 2018), determine distances of 136.2 ± 1.2 pc, 134 ± 6 pc and 136.2 ± 5.0 pc, respectively. The Gaia Data Release 1 team was cautious about their result and the VLBI authors assert "that the Hipparcos-measured distance to the Pleiades cluster is in error".

For another distance debate see Polaris#Distance, also with a different measurement from Hipparcos, although this time it suggested a greater distance.

## Composition

The cluster core radius is about 8 light-years and tidal radius is about 43 light-years. The cluster contains over 1,000 statistically confirmed members, a figure that excludes an unresolved likely further number of binary stars. Its light is dominated by young, hot blue stars, up to 14 of which can be seen with the naked eye depending on local observing conditions and visual acuity of the observer. The arrangement of the brightest stars is somewhat similar to Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. The total mass contained in the cluster is estimated to be about 800 solar masses and is dominated by fainter and redder stars. An estimate of the frequency of binary stars in the Pleiades is about 57%.

The cluster contains many brown dwarfs, which are objects with less than about 8% of the Sun's mass, not heavy enough for nuclear fusion reactions to start in their cores and become proper stars. They may constitute up to 25% of the total population of the cluster, although they contribute less than 2% of the total mass. Astronomers have made great efforts to find and analyse brown dwarfs in the Pleiades and other young clusters, because they are still relatively bright and observable, while brown dwarfs in older clusters have faded and are much more difficult to study.

## Brightest stars

The nine brightest stars of the cluster are named the Seven Sisters in Greek mythology: Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Alcyone, along with their parents Atlas and Pleione. As daughters of Atlas, the Hyades were sisters of the Pleiades. The following table gives details of the brightest stars in the cluster:

## Age and future evolution

Ages for star clusters can be estimated by comparing the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram for the cluster with theoretical models of stellar evolution. Using this technique, ages for the Pleiades of between 75 and 150 million years have been estimated. The wide spread in estimated ages is a result of uncertainties in stellar evolution models, which include factors such as convective overshoot, in which a convective zone within a star penetrates an otherwise non-convective zone, resulting in higher apparent ages.

Another way of estimating the age of the cluster is by looking at the lowest-mass objects. In normal main-sequence stars, lithium is rapidly destroyed in nuclear fusion reactions. Brown dwarfs can retain their lithium, however. Due to lithium's very low ignition temperature of 2.5 × 106 K, the highest-mass brown dwarfs will burn it eventually, and so determining the highest mass of brown dwarfs still containing lithium in the cluster can give an idea of its age. Applying this technique to the Pleiades gives an age of about 115 million years.

The cluster is slowly moving in the direction of the feet of what is currently the constellation of Orion. Like most open clusters, the Pleiades will not stay gravitationally bound forever. Some component stars will be ejected after close encounters with other stars; others will be stripped by tidal gravitational fields. Calculations suggest that the cluster will take about 250 million years to disperse, with gravitational interactions with giant molecular clouds and the spiral arms of our galaxy also hastening its demise.

## Reflection nebulosity

With larger amateur telescopes, the nebulosity around some of the stars can be easily seen; especially when long-exposure photographs are taken. Under ideal observing conditions, some hint of nebulosity around the cluster may even be seen with small telescopes or average binoculars. It is a reflection nebula, caused by dust reflecting the blue light of the hot, young stars.

It was formerly thought that the dust was left over from the formation of the cluster, but at the age of about 100 million years generally accepted for the cluster, almost all the dust originally present would have been dispersed by radiation pressure. Instead, it seems that the cluster is simply passing through a particularly dusty region of the interstellar medium.

Studies show that the dust responsible for the nebulosity is not uniformly distributed, but is concentrated mainly in two layers along the line of sight to the cluster. These layers may have been formed by deceleration due to radiation pressure as the dust has moved towards the stars.

## Possible planets

Analyzing deep-infrared images obtained by the Spitzer Space Telescope and Gemini North telescope, astronomers discovered that one of the cluster's stars, HD 23514, which has a mass and luminosity a bit greater than that of the Sun, is surrounded by an extraordinary number of hot dust particles. This could be evidence for planet formation around HD 23514.

## Videos

## Gallery

## See also

- Stozhary
- Matrikas
- The Seven Sages

Open cluster in the constellation of Taurus

Astronomical objects known since antiquity


Grant's Canal

Grant's Canal (also known as Williams's Canal) was an incomplete military effort to construct a canal through De Soto Point in Louisiana, across the Mississippi River from Vicksburg, Mississippi. During the American Civil War, United States Navy forces attempted to capture the Confederate-held city of Vicksburg in 1862, but were unable to do so with army support. Union Brigadier General Thomas Williams was sent to De Soto Point with 3,200 men to dig a canal capable of bypassing the strong defenses around Vicksburg. Despite help from local plantation slaves, disease and falling river levels prevented Williams from successfully constructing the canal, and the project was abandoned until January 1863, when Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant took an interest in the project.

Grant attempted to resolve some of the issues inherent to the concept by moving the upstream entrance to a spot with a stronger current, but the heavy rains and flooding that broke a dam prevented the project from succeeding. Work was abandoned in March, and Grant eventually used other methods to capture Vicksburg, whose Confederate garrison surrendered on July 4, 1863. In 1876, the Mississippi River changed course to cut across De Soto Point, eventually isolating Vicksburg from the river, but the completion of the Yazoo Diversion Canal in 1903 restored Vicksburg's river access. Most of the canal site has since been destroyed by agriculture, but a small section survives. This section was donated by local landowners to the National Park Service and became part of Vicksburg National Military Park in 1990. A 1974 article in The Military Engineer calculated that the canal would likely have been successful if the dam at the downstream end of the canal had been opened.

## History

### Background

During the opening days of the American Civil War in 1861, Winfield Scott, Commanding General of the United States Army, developed the Anaconda Plan for defeating the Confederate States of America. A major part of this plan was controlling the Mississippi River, to cut the Confederacy in two and provide a supply outlet for northern goods to reach foreign markets. In early 1862, the Union Army defeated Confederate forces in several significant battles, including Shiloh, First Corinth, Fort Donelson, and Island Number Ten. The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, also fell to Union troops in late April. Between the capture of New Orleans and the battlefield victories, much of the Mississippi Valley was in Union hands. Flag Officer David Glasgow Farragut commanded the United States Navy elements that had been present at New Orleans, and took his ships upriver to the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which was considered to be strategically valuable as it connected the regions west of the Mississippi River with the eastern portions of the Confederacy. The naval force was accompanied by 1,500 Union infantrymen under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Williams. After reaching Vicksburg in mid-May, Farragut unsuccessfully demanded that the city surrender to his fleet. On May 20, the first Union shot towards Vicksburg was fired by USS Oneida, and more bombardments followed on May 26 and 28 before Farragut decided to fall back to New Orleans, a move that was politically unpopular. The decision to withdraw was the result of falling river levels threatening to strand the Union ships, a shortage of coal, and Farragut being ill.

Another attempt on the city was made in June. Williams again accompanied the expedition, this time with a 3,200-man force. Williams's infantrymen, Farragut's navy, and a group of ships armed with mortars commanded by Commodore David Dixon Porter left the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on June 20. They reached Vicksburg five days later. On June 26, Porter and Farragut's ships attempted to bombard the Confederate artillery batteries defending the city, but were unable to do so. Confederate return fire was ineffective due to most Union ships anchoring out of range of the Confederate guns, and the remainder being anchored in a location shielded by heavy vegetation. Two days later, Farragut ordered most of his ships (but not Porter's) to pass in front of the city's defenses to meet a fleet of Union ironclads that had traveled down the river from Memphis, Tennessee. Farragut's movement involved navigating around De Soto Point, a peninsula of land on the Louisiana side of the river, where the Mississippi River made a horseshoe-shaped meander. The Union ships suffered damage, but were able to pass the batteries. Farragut and the commander of the ironclads, Flag Officer Charles Davis, agreed that the navy could not capture the city without large numbers of army troops and that the needed number of infantrymen would not be released by the Union general-in-chief, Major General Henry Halleck, for the Vicksburg operations.

### 1862 attempt

In 1853, engineer Charles Ellet Jr. determined that the Mississippi was likely to cut across the narrow De Soto Point, leaving Vicksburg isolated on an oxbow lake. Williams selected a site for a canal to be built across the point in early June, and his men began digging on June 27, assisted by 1,200 local plantation slaves. These slaves had been impressed by Union raiding parties, although many had come willingly, having been told that they would be freed for their work. Williams intended to free them only if the canal was completed successfully and treated them harshly. As planned, the canal would have openings on the river 6 miles (10 km) upstream and 3.5 miles (6 km) downstream from Vicksburg. The canal's length was to be 1.25 miles (2 km) or 1.33 miles (2 km) with a width of 50 feet (20 m) and depth of 13 feet (4 m). While the path of the canal could conceivably have been as short as 0.75 miles (1 km), the longer route was chosen to stay further from Vicksburg's defenses.

If the plan worked as intended, the Mississippi would cut through the canal ditch, allowing Union ships to traverse the river without being fired on by the defenders of Vicksburg. It was also considered possible that the river would move from its old course through the canal cut, isolating Vicksburg from the river entirely. Progress was hampered by the falling level of the river and outbreaks of disease. The temperature in the area sometimes reached as high as 110 °F (40 °C), potable water was scarce, and the mosquito-ridden swamps in the area were havens for disease. Malaria, dysentery, and scurvy were common among the workers, and supplies of quinine to treat malaria ran out. Disease was further promoted by soldiers dumping raw sewage into the Mississippi River, which was also their source of drinking water.

The geology of the ground where the canal was dug was thought to consist of about 11 feet (3 m) of clay with sand below. A river current was expected to cut through the sand, but not the clay, so the clay needed to be entirely removed before the canal was opened to the river. The river was falling almost 1 foot (0.3 m) a day, although reports from upriver at St. Louis noted that the Mississippi was rising further north. This rise did not manifest itself downstream where the canal project was. A rise in the river's level was expected in June, but this never happened. By July 4, 1862, the cut was only about 7 feet (2 m) deep. A week later, the depth of the canal was 1.5 feet (0.5 m) below the surface level of the river and on July 17 the canal had a depth of 13 feet (4 m) and a width of 18 feet (5 m), although the Mississippi River's level had fallen to below the trough of the canal. A steamboat was set up near the opening of the canal in a failed attempt to force water into the canal. The workers dug even deeper, but the walls of the canal collapsed in several places.

As the conditions deteriorated further, Williams decided that the canal was no longer feasible and ordered his men from De Soto Point, ending work on July 24. His command had been reduced to 700 or 800 healthy soldiers by disease. The civilian workers suffered from sickness as well. With the withdrawal of the infantrymen being at least part of his decision, Davis withdrew his ironclads upriver to Helena, Arkansas. Farragut's ships also withdrew at this time, escorting the transports carrying Williams's infantrymen back to Baton Rouge. These deep-draft naval vessels moved downstream with difficulty. When Confederate soldiers later examined the area where the canal construction had taken place, they found 600 graves and 500 abandoned African Americans, most of whom were ill. The other African-American workers had been either forcibly returned to their owners, or given three days's rations and instructions to walk back to their homes. The ditch had reached a depth of 13 feet (4 m) and was 18 feet (5 m) wide, but these dimensions were not enough to allow navigation because the river level had fallen below the ditch's trough. Although the proposed bypass of Vicksburg had failed, the diggers did destroy part of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas Railroad, severing an important Confederate rail connection across the Mississippi.

### 1863 attempt

In late November 1862, Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant began an offensive aimed at Vicksburg. He took 40,000 soldiers into northern Mississippi while Major General William T. Sherman made an amphibious thrust down the Mississippi towards Vicksburg. Both wings were forced to withdraw, Grant's after his supply line was wrecked by the Holly Springs Raid and West Tennessee Raids and Sherman's after a repulse at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou. Sherman's men fell back to Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, Sherman being superseded in command by Major General John McClernand. The two generals took the force north to Arkansas Post, Arkansas, and captured a Confederate fort in early January in the Battle of Arkansas Post. Grant then ordered Sherman to take a force down to the old canal site and resume work on the project. Overall command of the move against Vicksburg was taken over by Grant in late January 1863, although the lead elements of his force had already reached the area. A direct attack on Vicksburg was impractical; the strength of the Confederate defenses had been improved since Farragut's campaign the previous year, the terrain north of the city in the Mississippi Delta was impassable to an army, and a withdrawal to Memphis to make a second overland attempt would be publicly viewed as a defeat and would be politically disastrous.

Despite some urging from a Vicksburg newspaper editor, Confederate troops had never filled in the traces of the canal. The steamboat Catahoula was sent to the area in January 1863 by the Union, under the command of a Lieutenant Wilson, to scout the remains of the canal cut. Both the captain of the vessel and a newspaperman on board reported that while there was water standing in the canal, it was stagnant and that the cut needed significant work before large ships such as the United States Navy ironclads could pass through it. Union Colonel Josiah W. Bissell, who had prior engineering experience, surveyed the canal on January 10 and noted that it was still in similar shape as to how Williams left it. All of the previously excavated dirt had been thrown to the side facing Vicksburg, which provided some protection from Confederate fire and made it easier to widen the canal, as the side to be widened did not contain excess debris. Although he was initially unconvinced by the project, Grant ordered that the digging resume after making some adjustments to the plans of the canal. Visiting Union officers later found that the water was only 2 feet (0.6 m) in the ditch and also noted the lack of a current, although depths of up to 8 feet (2 m) and widths up to 12 feet (4 m) were also reported. Tree stumps would need to be removed from the canal sides and a levee would need to be constructed to prevent canal water from flooding into where Union camps would be located.

The project had the support of President Abraham Lincoln. The first workers were assigned to the canal project on January 23. The canal was widened to 16 feet (5 m) within a week, but because there was water in the canal, the newly widened points only had a depth down to the water level. The use of dredging boats would have been a solution to this problem, but none were available at the time. Water depth was increased to 5 feet (2 m), and in hopes of creating greater erosion in the canal, soldiers were ordered to dig pits along its sides. Another attempt to use a steamboat to push water into the canal was made, but again failed. By the end of the month, Grant was beginning to think that the canal project would not succeed, but continued with the construction. Captain Frederick E. Prime was placed in command of the effort on January 28. Outbreaks of disease struck again, and the levees around the project frequently broke, flooding parts of the canal. The diggers were also exposed to Confederate artillery fire. By now, the construction had been divided into 160-foot (50 m) sections, with the intention of making each section 6 feet (2 m) deep and 60 feet (20 m) wide. As these early attempts at working on the canal failed to achieve significant progress, Grant ordered that the upstream end of the canal be moved to a point 200 yards (200 m) upstream to allow for a stronger current to flow into the ditch.

Rains hampered the project by exposing poorly buried graves from the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou and turning the soil to a consistency Sherman described as "wet, almost water". Prime determined that the only way to deepen the canal would be to drain it, so he ordered any holes in the levees surrounding the canal plugged with dirt-filled gunny sacks. This process was completed by February 9, although it was noted that evidence of current-based erosion was finally sighted shortly before the canal was closed off. By February 12, the new entrance, which was constructed by 550 African Americans, had dimensions of 60 feet (20 m) across and 4 feet (1 m) deep. Water still kept rising through February 16, so one of the levees closing the canal off from the campsites was opened to drain the excess water into an unused area. On the 19th, a steam-powered sump pump was completed; the sump itself had been completed ten days earlier. That same day, 1,000 African American laborers were sent from Memphis to work on the project. In mid-February, the work assignments were rearranged so that each regiment had a 150-yard (100 m) section. The regiments were in turn subdivided so that an individual soldier only worked on the canal for two hours a day; units competed against each other in the construction work. Though many soldiers were theoretically available to work on the project, only 3,000 or 4,000 were assigned to it due to lack of tools. About 2,000 civilian laborers also worked on the canal during the life of the project. Two dredging boats were finally secured on February 16, the first arriving on March 1.

Union newspapers criticized the project, and the Confederates built new artillery emplacements capable of enfilading most of the canal. Optimism among those working on the canal grew as progress was made. Grant sent a message to Halleck on March 4 stating that the canal was only days from completion, and the second dredging boat arrived the next day. On March 7, the dam holding the upstream end of the canal failed, inundating the canal. The opening in the levee expanded until it was 150 feet (50 m) wide, and water flooded some of the Union campsites. This breach was a disaster for the project. Though the inflow of water had flooded the area, it had not produced any scouring effect. Prime ordered the lower end of the canal blown and attempted to plug the upper breach with a coal barge. It took days of frantic work to plug the hole. By March 12, the upper half of the canal only needed some widening and stump and tree removal, while the lower half required little widening but still some stump removal. Aside from those issues, the only remaining work to be done was filling a breach in one of the canal's side levees. The flooding had caused the cut to begin to fill with sediment, and the two dredging boats, Hercules and Sampson, were sent to try to clear the channel, but they came under Confederate artillery fire. With the soldiers flooded out and forced to higher ground elsewhere, the dredges continued the work. By March 19, Confederate fire had become accurate enough that the dredges could only operate under the cover of night. Grant wrote on March 22 that he doubted that the canal would be useful, and noted that Confederate artillery had been positioned to fire down the exit end of the canal. The dredges were withdrawn two days later. Their civilian operators had balked at working under enemy fire, stating that being shot at was not part of their contract. On March 27, Halleck was informed that the project had ended. Grant's canal had been a failure. The canal had reached a width of about 60 feet (20 m) and a depth of about 9 feet (3 m) to 12 feet (4 m). Grant viewed the canal construction as a good way to prevent idleness among his soldiers, but eventually conceived another way to get troops past Vicksburg. In Sherman's words, the canal was "labor lost".

## Aftermath

A similar attempt, known as the Duckport Canal, was made 3 miles (5 km) to the north. Near Duckport, Louisiana, a 1 mile (2 km) channel that was 40 feet (10 m) wide and 7 feet (2 m) deep was to be dug to connect the Mississippi to Walnut Bayou. It was hoped that this would provide a navigable channel to the Mississippi at New Carthage, Louisiana, downstream from Vicksburg. On April 13, a levee was blasted to open the channel, but Grant decided that the project would take too long to be viable, although the work still continued with hopes of using the Duckport cut as a future supply channel. The transport Silver Wave attempted to navigate the lower part of the path, but was unable to do so because of low water and submerged trees obstructing the path. The Mississippi began to fall, and low waters doomed the Duckport Canal; by April 27, there was only 6 inches (20 cm) of water where the cut entered Walnut Bayou. Another digging project was made with the Lake Providence Canal. Located 40 miles (64 km) to the north of Vicksburg, the Lake Providence project was intended to produce a water route into the Red River, and bypass Vicksburg that way. Work began on it while the canal at De Soto Point was still being worked on; the Lake Providence cut was expected to be much easier. Union troops cut levees on March 4 and March 17, but the project encountered difficulties with trees blocking the path, and Grant had the attention given there redirected elsewhere before a needed sawing machine arrived. Other failed attempts to get around Vicksburg were the Steele's Bayou Expedition and the Yazoo Pass Expedition, two attempts to weave through the waterways to the north of the city.

Grant decided to land troops on the Mississippi side of the river below Vicksburg in April. After pushing aside Confederate resistance at the battles of Port Gibson and Raymond, Grant's soldiers moved against Jackson, Mississippi, and captured the city from a Confederate army assembled to support Vicksburg. The Confederate defenders of Vicksburg had moved east from the city but were defeated at the Battle of Champion Hill on May 16. By May 18, Grant's men had reached Vicksburg. Frontal attacks against the city on May 19 and 22 failed with significant losses, and the city was placed under siege. The siege of Vicksburg continued until the Confederate defenders surrendered on July 4. After Vicksburg surrendered, the Confederate garrison of Port Hudson, Louisiana, followed suit, giving the Union full control of the Mississippi River. The fall of Vicksburg was a decisive blow to the Confederacy and directly contributed to the eventual Confederate defeat.

In April 1876, the Mississippi River changed course, cutting through De Soto Point and eventually isolating Vicksburg from the riverfront after the oxbow lake formed by the course change became cut off from the river. Vicksburg would not be a river town again until the completion of the Yazoo Diversion Canal in 1903. The natural path was only about 1.5 miles (2 km) away from where Grant's Canal had been attempted. Most of the canal path has since been destroyed by agriculture, but a small section still remains. The owners of the tract donated it to the National Park Service and it was added to Vicksburg National Military Park in 1990. Union African American soldiers who fought at the battles of Milliken's Bend and Goodrich's Landing are also commemorated at the site. A monument to the 9th Connecticut Infantry Regiment was also dedicated at the site in 2008. The National Park Service unit is located in Madison Parish, Louisiana.

### Assessment

The historians William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel suggest that by the end of the project, Grant was only continuing the canal to please project supporter Lincoln and to distract the Confederates. At the time of the 1863 attempt, Grant was not particularly popular in the Union, and newspaperman Sylvanus Cadwallader wrote that he believed Grant could only keep his command by occupying his soldiers with activity. Some outside observers did view Grant's Canal as the best option for taking the city, and it received press attention in the Union, Confederacy, and Europe. Ed Bearss describes Grant's canal efforts as showing his willingness to try any available opportunity. Likewise, the historian Shelby Foote included the canal as one of seven different failed attempts made before Grant successfully took Vicksburg. A 1974 article published in The Military Engineer calculated that if the dam at the downstream end of the canal had been opened along with the breach in the upper canal, then a current strong enough to successfully erode through the canal cut would have probably been produced. Writer Kevin Dougherty believes that Grant's willingness to try various projects to get around the city had a side effect of confusing the Confederates. Engineer David F. Bastian suggests that the canal came close to success, and could have been successful if dredges had been obtained in January instead of March. He believes that using the dredges would have been more effective at widening and deepening the ditch than manual labor, and would have been less affected by rising river levels. The project would also have been completed quicker, allowing for time to reroute the downstream end of the canal away from the new Confederate batteries. If successful, the canal could have rendered Vicksburg moot by bypassing it. Historical consensus has nonetheless treated the project as impractical.

## See also

- Dutch Gap, a similar attempt in 1864 on the James River.

Attempted canal in Louisiana, United States of America

Buildings and structures in Madison Parish, Louisiana


Live While We're Young

"Live While We're Young" is a song by English-Irish boy band One Direction, released as the lead single from their second studio album, Take Me Home (2012). Written by Savan Kotecha and its producers, Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk, the number was released by Syco Records on 28 September 2012. Falk, Kotecha, and Yacoub had collaboratively helmed One Direction's previous hits, "What Makes You Beautiful" and "One Thing". The track is an uptempo, upbeat bubblegum pop song which features rock undertones, vocal harmonies, hand claps, prominent electric guitar riffs, and repetitive synthesizers. The chorus of the song is predominantly featured alongside the bridge and is backed by wordless chants. Its opening guitar riff bears similarities with the Clash's 1982 single, "Should I Stay or Should I Go".

The track received mostly positive reviews from critics, who centred on its omnipresence and jubilant nature. The only negative feedback the song got was centered on the lyrics, which were interpreted as a thinly veiled euphemism for sexual intercourse. A commercial success, the song became a top ten hit in fifteen countries, while reaching the top of the charts in New Zealand and Ireland. In the United States, "Live While We're Young" debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking the second-highest bow among all UK acts, outpaced only by Elton John's number one arrival with "Candle in the Wind 1997".

Following an unauthorized internet leak, the accompanying music video was officially released on 20 September 2012, four days earlier than the intended release date. Directed by Vaughan Arnell, the clip, which has a camping festival theme, was generally well received by critics, who commended its carefree nature. Upon release, it broke the Vevo record for having the most views in a 24-hour period with 8.24 million, besting the previous record which had been set by Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" (8.00 million). Bieber subsequently regained the record with his music video for "Beauty and a Beat" (10.6 million). One Direction performed "Live While We're Young" on televised programs and during their two major concert tours: Take Me Home Tour (2013) and Where We Are Tour (2014). The track was featured in a Pepsi television commercial for the United States and was performed on an episode of Glee. This song is the first track on Now 45.

## Background and release

"Live While We're Young" was written by Rami Yacoub, Carl Falk, and Savan Kotecha, and was produced by Yacoub and Falk. The trio had collaboratively helmed One Direction's previous hits, "What Makes You Beautiful" and "One Thing". In early 2012, the group confirmed a follow-up release for their debut album, Up All Night (2011), was in development. "In the summer, we’re going to get back and start a new record. We want to bring out a record nearly every year, every year and a half," member Niall Horan said, revealing they were arranging "meetings and stuff with different writers and producers." The band began recording the album in May 2012, in Stockholm, Sweden, at Kinglet Studios—"Live While We're Young" is a result of those recording sessions. In June 2012, Horan spoke to MTV News, elaborating that the lead single would probably be released in September 2012.

The band confirmed the single by uploading a video to YouTube on 23 August 2012. Globally, the song was made available for pre-order at 24:00 GMT on 24 August, through the iTunes Store, while excluding, Canada, Japan, and the United States. The artwork was revealed on 14 September. Jocelyn Vena of MTV News described it as portraying "the fivesome enjoying the outdoors during a camping trip, goofing off outside a tent." On 28 September, Sony Music Entertainment released it digitally in Australia, New Zealand, and most of Europe. It impacted the United Kingdom on 30 September, while in the United States it was released on 1 October. Due to a processing error, the US iTunes Store was selling the track for 99 cents – instead of the general \$1.29. Label sources indicated the initial price was a mistake, but could not be corrected until midday 1 October. By the afternoon, the price had changed from 99 cents to \$1.29.

## Composition and lyrics

"Live While We're Young" is an uptempo, upbeat bubblegum pop song which features rock undertones, vocal harmonies, hand claps, prominent electric guitar riffs, and repetitive synthesizers, reminiscent of the musical structures of their debut album. The opening guitar riff has been noted as similar to that of the Clash song "Should I Stay or Should I Go" (1982). According to Alexis Petridis of The Guardian, the guitar is played thrice between the riff with the plectrum stroking the strings, while it is pressed. One note in the chord is changed, which Petridis surmised was probably to avoid paying any royalty to the Clash. Sam Lansky of Idolator noted that the song is musically similar to their breakthrough hit "What Makes You Beautiful". In contrast to One Direction's previous singles, the lead vocals are predominantly sung by Zayn Malik.

According to the digital sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, One Direction's vocal range in the song span from the note of D4 to A5. Written in the key of D major, the song is set in common time with a fast-paced tempo of 126 beats per minute. The song follows a basic sequence of D–G–D–G–D–A as its chord progression. The chorus of the song is predominantly featured alongside the bridge, is backed by wordless chants, and encompasses the lines: "Let’s go crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun/ I know we only met but let’s pretend it’s love / And never, never, never stop for anyone/ Tonight let’s get some, and live while we’re young." Several critics commonly concurred that the song's lyrics interpret a thinly veiled euphemism for sexual intercourse. Kotecha quipped in a September 2012 interview with Sugarscape:

> "The whole idea is that you have that nostalgic night out, so people who are older can listen to it too. None of us are naive enough not to know what kids do. It’s important not to patronise the youth of today, we’re not gonna be writing about 'oh let’s just hold hands for a while' you know? They need their music to connect. A lot of songs are about sex and you have to be realistic about it."

## Critical response

Robert Copsey of Digital Spy gave "Live While We're Young" four out of five stars and wrote, "it's little different from what we've heard before – but when you're the world's biggest boyband, it's no bad thing." Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times summarised it as a "characteristically peppy piece of high-gloss party pop." Lansky praised its effectiveness and thought it was "perfectly tailored to top the charts." Andrew Unterberger of Popdust acknowledged that "the song is smart to swipe the guitar-only opening pattern from The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"—akin to "What Makes You Beautiful" lifting the "Summer Nights" beginning—calling on pop history to get you excited for the song before you even really realise why." Unterberger further highlighted the small lyrical plays for conveying "an incredible amount of urgency and fun without much clunky verbage  [sic], making singing along something of an inevitability." A writer for The Huffington Post asserted that the song delivers for fans of their debut album: "a poppy, energetic, happy-go-lucky track."

Sylvie Lesas of Evigshed Magazine gave it a rating of five out of five stars, called it "upbeat, fun and very fresh", and proclaimed that "radios are going to love it." Chris Younie of 4Music called it "insanely catchy", lauding its production for combining a "simple" guitar riff with an "anthemic feel-good chorus". Alexandra Capotorto of PopCrush rated it four stars out of five, deeming it memorable and "irresistible" for any demographic. Vena opined that the "bit cheeky" song perfectly embodies a "joie de vivre message." MSN Music's Tina Hart concluded, "It's fun, pure unadulterated pop and I like it." Writing for The Vancouver Sun, Leah Collins quipped that even though the song lifts its main riff from a Clash song, "this tune is as yummy and bubble-gummy as anything" on One Direction's debut studio album Up All Night (2011). Newsday's Glenn Gamboa acknowledged that the song is even more omnipresent than the band's previous hits combined.

In a detailed review, HitFix's Melina Newman denounced its lyrical content: "Even though they never are so blatant about it that booty call subtext can't go right over their tween audience's head, there's no mistaking lines like "if we get together, don’t let the pictures ever leave your phone" for anyone who's 13 or up. The lyrics are unwieldy and uncouth. That's what happens when you're not a boy, but not yet a man: One Direction can't go straight from the G-rated sweetness of "What Makes You Beautiful" to something akin to Enrique Iglesias's "Tonight, I’m F\*\*\*\*\*\* You," so instead they’re stuck with this in between clumsiness that the not-so-little girls will understand." Grady Smith of Entertainment Weekly characterised it as "not-so-innocent" and a "party jam". Jason Lipshutz of Billboard felt that its sexual suggestive lyricism "arrives too soon after the more accomplished puppy-love odes of previous hits "What Makes You Beautiful" and "One Thing" to further the conversation."

## Commercial performance

"Live While We're Young" debuted on the Irish Singles Chart at number one on 4 October 2012, becoming One Direction's fourth top ten appearance and their second chart-topper in Ireland. In the United Kingdom, the single became One Direction's fourth UK Singles Chart top ten hit in twelve months, entering at number three on 7 October 2012. Elsewhere in Europe, the song became a top ten hit in Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. It was certified gold by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry (FIMI). Additionally, it attained top forty positions in European territories such as Belgium (Wallonia), France, Germany, Sweden, and Slovakia. The single debuted at number two on the Australian Singles Chart dated 14 October 2012, with first-week sales of 58,659 copies. The single marks the group's highest peaking song in Australia, passing up the number-three peak of "One Thing", and their third top ten hit. The track was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting shipments of 140,000 copies. The track made its New Zealand Singles Chart debut at number one on 8 October 2012, marking the group's first number-one hit, and their second top-five charting song in New Zealand. "Live While We're Young" has received a platinum certification from Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ), indicating sales of 15,000 copies. After three days of digital availability, the song made its Canadian Hot 100 debut at number 78 on 4 October 2012. It surged to its peak position of number two the following week, recording the highest number of digital downloads in the tracking week for a song in Canada.

In the United States, One Direction made US chart history by achieving the biggest opening one-week sales figure for a song by a non-US artist ever; the track entered the Digital Songs chart at number one on 10 October 2012, selling 341,000 copies in its first week. Additionally, it was the first time since January 2012, when Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain" was the top seller that a single by a British act had led that list and its weekly sales is also the highest by a British act since another Adele track "Rolling in the Deep", sold 353,000 units in a week in May 2011. The single's opening sales is also the third biggest debut ever for a download by a group, surpassed by the arrivals of Maroon 5's 2012 single "Payphone" (493,000), and the Black Eyed Peas' 2009 single "Boom Boom Pow" (465,000). "Live While We're Young" debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking the highest bow by a British group and the second-highest debut among all UK acts, outpaced only by Elton John's number one arrival in 1997 with "Candle in the Wind 1997". In addition, that tracking week marked the first time two UK artists have simultaneously started in the Billboard Hot 100 top ten, as Adele's "Skyfall" debuted at number eight. Billboard correspondent Keith Caufield noted its "huge sales" spurred its high entry on the Billboard Hot 100, which blends sales, airplay and streaming data. "Live While We're Young" also became the act's highest-peaking single, passing up the number-four peak of "What Makes You Beautiful". In the week ending 20 January 2013, the song topped the one million mark in US sales. Likewise, the song was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 23 January 2013, and it has sold 1,248,000 copies in the US as of November 2013.

## Music video

The music video for "Live While We're Young" was directed by Vaughan Arnell. On 24 August 2012, One Direction announced that an accompanying music video for "Live While We're Young" was filmed at a "secret place." According to an MTV News article published on 14 September 2012, the video would feature a "summer music festival vibe" with the group "getting wet and wild, acting silly with props and getting soaked by water guns." The official video was initially due to premiere on 24 September 2012. However, a poor-quality version of the music video leaked online on 20 September 2012: the same day it was officially published on One Direction's Vevo channel on YouTube. In regard, the group released a statement: "We wanted our fans to see the video and hear the single in the proper way so we've moved the premiere to tonight. We're really excited about LWWY, we've worked really hard on it and we can't wait for everyone to see and hear it later today!"

The video begins with One Direction waking up in a tent. Outside, Payne starts singing the opening lines, as others are seen playing guitars and sitting on hay bales in a camp setting. Subsequent scenes intercut featuring One Direction performing the song at the camp setting in a circle, on an open field, driving a car, and at a lake where members of the group play in plastic bubbles and boats. As it turns to nighttime, the camp is the main setting; they conduct a football match and afterwards a pool party. The video ends with One Direction looking at the camera, with Malik singing the last line. Throughout the video, teenage boys and girls are shown with the band.

Upon release, the video broke the Vevo record for having the most views in a 24-hour period with 8.24 million views, besting the previous record which had been set by Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" (8.00 million). Bieber regained the record with the release of the music video for "Beauty and a Beat" (10.6 million) on 12 October 2012. It received positive reviews from music critics, who generally complimented its carefree, jubilant nature. Smith quipped that it has "notable moments," which he cited, "glowstick campfire dances, inflatable pool splashing, four wheeler racing, and an unfortunate blonde streak in Zayn [Malik]'s hair." The Hollywood Reporter writer Sophie A. Schillaci called it "fun-filled", and concluded that the video perfectly accompanies the track's lyricism. Lansky called the "high quality" clip "fairly standard 1D fare", elaborating: "the boys get up to some teenage shenanigans and, well, live while they’re young. When their festivities culminate in a pool party that reads more like a wet t-shirt contest than anything else, it's abundantly clear that 1D knows their audience." The Huffington Post characterised it as an "epic summer adventure", assessing: "from a camping trip to the ultimate beach party, complete with a shirtless Niall [Horan] and inflatable banana." Collins described it as featuring the group "doing what they do best – scampering, singing, scampering some more." ITN's Lindsay Brown viewed the video as "wholesome", showing them "having some good old fashioned fun." Fuse editor Nicole James praised the apparent recurring trend of "how the group isn't afraid to make fun of themselves." James elaborated: "If it were any other boy band acting out the Monkees-inspired hijinks in 1D's new video "Live While We're Young," it would likely come off as super cheesy. But for these five guys, their sense of comfortable self-awareness really comes through." As of May 2019, the video has over 610 million views.

## Live performances and usage in media

One Direction performed the track along with songs of their debut album at the 2012 BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards (7 October). The group performed "Live While We're Young" on The X Factor Italy (1 November) and on the X Factor Sweden (2 November). They also performed "Live While We're Young" and "Little Things" on The X Factor USA (8 November). The group performed "Live While We're Young" and "Little Things" on the BBC's Children in Need 2012 telethon (16 November). One Direction also performed the track at Germany's Bambi Awards (22 November). "Live While We're Young" was included in the set list of the group's headlining sold-out show at Madison Square Garden (3 December). It also was incorporated on the set list of the group's worldwide Take Me Home Tour (2013), utilised as the show's twentieth song.

"Live While We're Young" was featured in a Pepsi television commercial for the United States that featured both One Direction and the American football player Drew Brees. It premiered on Fox in the United States on 10 October 2012. Vena called the clip comedic and assessed: "The brand-new commercial not only allows the group to show off their funny bones, but it also serves as a reminder that their new album Take Me Home, featuring "LWWY," is only a month away from dropping." It was one of the songs covered by the cast of Glee during the 29 November 2012 episode "Thanksgiving". The fictional character Sebastian Smythe, portrayed by Grant Gustin, sang lead vocals while the fictional Dalton Academy Warblers sang back-up. The version was released on the studio album, Glee: The Music, Season 4, Volume 1. The track was also used for the opening scene of the Miss Universe 2012 pageant. An instrumental version of the song is featured in the exergaming video game Fitness Boxing.

## Formats and track listings

- Digital download – EP

1. "Live While We're Young" – 3:18
2. "Live While We're Young" (Dave Audé remix) – 5:40
3. "Live While We're Young" (The Jump Smokers remix) – 4:25
4. "I Want" (Live) – 3:06
5. "Moments" (Live) (Pre-order only) – 4:44

- UK and US CD single

1. "Live While We're Young" – 3:18
2. "I Want" (Live) – 3:06

## Credits and personnel

- Carl Falk – writing, production, programming, instruments, guitar, background vocals
- Kristoffer Fogelmark – background vocals
- Niall Horan – additional guitar
- Savan Kotecha – writing, background vocals
- Rami Yacoub – writing, production, programming, instruments, bass

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Take Me Home.

## Charts and certifications

### Weekly charts

### Year-end charts

## Certifications

## Release history

## See also

- One Thing
- Best Song Ever
- Steal My Girl
- What Makes You Beautiful
- Drag Me Down