Moon and Pleiades rise together mid-evening
9 comments Print Me Email to FriendTonight is Thursday, Oct 16 2008
The waning gibbous moon and the Pleiades star cluster will rise over your eastern horizon a few hours after sunset. Our sky chart shows the eastern sky for about 10:00 p.m. tonight as seen from mid-northern latitudes in North America.
The Pleiades are sibling stars that were born from the same cloud of dusty gas some 100 million years ago. Although several hundred stars belong to this cluster, most people can only see six Pleiades stars with the unaided eye. These six little starlets form a small yet most beautiful dipper that is instantly recognizable on a clear, dark night.
The overpowering moonlight will undoubtedly dim the luster of these stars tonight, but binoculars can help you to see the dipper-shape Pleiades. Mentally note where the Pleiades cluster appears relative to your horizon and key stars. The two most brilliant nearby stars are Aldebaran, the brightest in the constellation Taurus the Bull, and Capella, the brightest star in the constellation Auriga the Charioteer.
Several days from now, the moon will drop out of the evening sky. But the Pleiades cluster, Aldebaran and Capella will return to the same place in the sky some four minutes earlier with each passing night.
what is that beautiful star in the east, early morning,low in the sky, before sunrise, with colors twinkling?
Charlene,
That beautiful, brilliant star iridescently sparkling in the east, low in the sky before sunrise, is Arcturus, my favorite star! Did you know that you can see Arcturus in the evening sky after sunset, too? For a preview about Arcturus as the Halloween star, click right here.
Bruce
Hi! My husband dragged me out of bed last night,10/15, or early 10/16, at around 12:30 am to show me a bright twinkling star in the east below the moon, and another that was towards the west, but still relatively high up. Maybe Jupiter? or Saturn? But it was that twinkling star that had him thinking UFOs, because he could see the red flashes, and thot it was a blimp or airplane!
I thought he’d been drinking!
Thanks for your help!
Heidi,
Jupiter sets at about 11 p.m. at mid-northern latitudes, so I’m pretty sure you weren’t looking at Jupiter. Besides that, Jupiter doesn’t tend to sparkle, because it’s a planet.
In the wee hours after midnight, the star Sirius, the brightest star of the night sky, is barely above the east, or southeast horizon. When a brilliant star hovers that low in the sky, the star sparkles wildly, because the starlight has to travel through a much greater layer of the Earth’s atmosphere than when the star is higher in the sky. The atmosphere acts like a prism, splitting the starlight into the colors of the rainbow.
The star that you saw relatively high up in your western sky after midnight might have been Deneb, one of the three stars that make up the Summer Triangle. Deneb is close to overhead at nightfall.
Bruce
Hi Bruce,
My son and I were driving north on Hwy 29 out of Charlotte NC around 8 p.m. tonight when we saw a huge meteor or fireball or something with a tail falling to the earth. We couldn’t tell if it burnt out or just got out of our vision.
I’ve looked on the news and did a google search, but haven’t found anything about it. Have you heard anything?
Teresa & Josh
Concord, NC
Teresa & Josh,
I checked the American Meteor Society (AMS) fireball sighting page and didn’t see a report for this particular fireball. However, if I hear any news, I’ll make sure to post it right here. If you find out anything, please let us know.
Bruce
Just got my first telescope today.Looking at the moon was totally awesome. I’m just wondering is it good to stare at the BRIGHT moon. And now after my first night of star CHASING I see why they make motorized telescopes or eq’s.
Hi, its about 2:30 am here in Denver Colorado, i walked outside and there was an extremely bright star (i think) just southeast and it was brighter then any i have ever seen… twinkling with red and blue. sounds sorta crazy, but maybe it was one of the ones you already mentioned but i was just wondering which it was. Very beautiful dont know why i have never noticed it before. which one is it do you know?
Roger & Sam,
Roger, it takes a good while for your eye to dark-adapt again after looking at the bright moon. Some people choose to look at the moon at twilight or in the daytime, as this reduces the moonlit glare. Some people also observe the moon when it’s a crescent – again, less glare. At Reynolds Observatory in Potsdam, NY, the director purposely turns on a light when moon watching, to minimize eye strain. Also, filters are available for the telescope, if you want to do a lot of moon watching.
Sam, you were looking at Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. You must have missed our October 13 EarthSky Tonight feature on Sirus. But not to worry – I provide it for you right here!
Bruce