Tag Archives: the hyades

Taurus Eyes Venus

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   Saturday morning July 11th the inner planet Venus will be about 1o from the reddish star Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull. Aldebaran marks the ‘angry eye’ of the bull and is at one end of a v-shaped group of stars, the Hyades, that make up the face of Taurus.

   Venus has just spent the past several days traversing the Hyades, an open star cluster composed of hundreds of stars. The Hyades, at a estimated distance of 150 light years, is the closest open star cluster in our galaxy to the Earth.
    With binoculars the view of Venus, the Hyades, and Aldebaran is striking with Venus brightly shining at about a -4.5 apparent magnitude and Aldebaran with a 0.9 apparent magnitude.

   Also on this day the 20-day old waning gibbous Moon will be about 4-5o from the planet Mars.

   
   
   
   
   
   

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Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) and Venus-Hyades Transit – Follow up

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General location of the comet

   Here are pictures of the inner planet Venus in transit across the Hyades open star cluster, and of Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) as both appeared over the northeastern to eastern horizon.
   Pictures were taken around 5:00 am CDT with a Canon Rebel EOS T7i DSLR using a variety of settings for exposure, shutter speed and so on. Location was near a baseball field at Legacy Park in Lee’s Summit, MO.
   
   
   
   
   
   



   
   
   

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Crescent Moon and the Hyades

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   Saturday evening April 25th, at around sunset, the 3-day old waxing crescent Moon will be 1-2o from the reddish star Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus the Bull. Aldebaran is the brightest star in Taurus and also the brightest star of the v-shaped open star cluster the Hyades.

   The combination of the waxing crescent Moon with the stars of the Pleiades will make for a good view through binoculars.

   
   
   

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Moon Conjunction with Aldebaran

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   Tuesday evening, November 10th, about an hour or so after sunset, the 14.5-day old waxing gibbous Moon will be about 2-3o from the reddish star Aldebaran. Aldebaran is at one end of the v-shaped open star cluster the Hyades in Taurus the Bull.

   
   
   

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A Bullish Moon, or A Moon – Bull Conjunction, or Bull Gets Mooned!

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   Over the next 3 mornings, July 26, 27,and 28 before sunrise, the waning crescent Moon will be moving across the shoulders and head of the constellation Taurus the Bull. As it traverses the constellation pattern the waning Moon will come within about 8o from the open star cluster, the Pleiades and within about 4-5o from the v-shaped open star cluster the Hyades.
   This should make for some good viewing through binoculars, especially on the 27th when the Moon passes about 2-3o from the reddish star Aldebaran in the Hyades. How close the conjunction between the Moon and Aldebaran will be depends greatly on your viewing location’s longitude. This graphic is for when the two are their closest which is 2.5o around 1 UT (8 pm CDT).


   
   
   


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Mars and Two Open Clusters

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   Monday evening April 1st the planet Mars was within about 3o from the open star cluster the Pleiades and about 8-9o from the open star cluster the Hyades. These two open star clusters are part of the constellation Taurus the Bull with the v-shaped Hyades and its reddish star Aldebaran making up the Bull’s face, and the ‘small dipper-shaped’ Pleiades are located along the Bull’s shoulder.

   From mythology it has been told that Orion and Taurus are engaged in a battle. Orion with a shield held up against the charging bull, and the anger of the bull indicated by its red eye, the star Aldebaran.

   
   
   

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ISS, Taurus and Orion

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   This morning (17 September) was another morning with clear skies and another chance at catching the ISS as it orbited overhead. This time the ISS came out of the northwest and reached around 70o above the horizon as it headed southeastward. It passed by the open star clusters the Pleiades and the Hyades and then passed below and parallel to the belt of Orion toward Sirius where the ISS disappeared behind some trees.
   This picture is made from 22 stacked pictures.

   
   
   

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Taurus Noses the Moon

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   Monday morning August 6th the 24-day old waning crescent Moon will be about 4o from the reddish star Aldebaran, part of the open star cluster the Hyades. This v-shaped cluster of stars marks the face of Taurus the Bull, and Aldebaran represents the red ‘angry’ eye of Taurus.

   
   
   

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Waning Crescent Moon in Close Conjunction with Aldebaran

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   Tuesday July 10th in the hour or so before sunrise local time the very thin 26.5-day old waning crescent Moon will be within about 1o (width of 2 full Moons) from the reddish star Aldebaran in the open star cluster the Hyades. The Hyades are a v-shaped group of stars marking the face of Taurus the Bull. Reddish-colored Aldebaran represents an angry eye of the Bull.
   This conjunction is close enough so that a combination of a thin waning crescent Moon and the bright Aldebaran should make for a take a look with binoculars or the ‘naked-eye’.

   For those keeping track of Jupiter should be relieved to read that Jupiter’s retrograde motion has ended, and at least for the foreseeable future Jupiter has agreed to stick with the ‘program’ and resume it’s direct motion – eastward.

   
   
   

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Taurus Eyes the Moon

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   Saturday evening December 30th the 13-day old waxing gibbous Moon will be 1-2o from the reddish star Aldebaran. The star is often described as representing the angry eye of Taurus the Bull. Regardless Aldebaran is at one end of a v-shaped group of stars that make-up the face of Taurus. These stars are part of an open star cluster, the Hyades, consisting of several hundreds of stars located about 150 light years from the Earth.

   About 10o from the Hyades, on the shoulder of Taurus, is another well-known open star cluster – the Pleiades. This is a cluster of approximately 1,000 stars located at a distance of 400-450 light years. Easily seen with the naked-eye several of the brightest stars form a small dipper-shape.
   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.