Look Sunday morning for moon and Pleiades
2 comments Print Me Email to FriendTonight is Saturday, Jul 26 2008
Sunday morning before dawn step outside and take a peek at the Pleiades star cluster – near the moon – at a time of year when you still won’t get too chilled in the predawn air. The seasons in the skies are starting to change, and the favorites we normally see all winter are beginning to rise in the east before dawn. That includes the Pleiades – the fuzzy patch just below the moon Sunday before dawn.
In Greek mythology, the Pleiades were known as seven muses or seven sisters. But many ancient cultures saw the Pleiades differently. For example, in some Hawaiian myths the Pleiades are seen as a net. In some Polynesian cultures they were once one star that was smashed by a god in anger and broken into six pieces.
We today know the Pleiades as an open cluster of stars: born together and still loosely bound by gravity. Open clusters of stars were once one mass that came out of a star forming gas cloud. You can still see the gas or nebulosity in big telescopes and the right filters. Many of the legends mention the Pleiades as being six or seven stars. These six to seven stars are easily seen with the unaided eye. However, there are over 1,000 stars in the actual Pleiades cluster.
In a few millennia, the Pleiades cluster will appear from Earth below the feet of Orion. And in about 250 million years the stars of the Pleiades will no longer be gravitationally bound to each other.
Back to the beautiful waning moon, visible in Sunday morning’s sky. Don’t get too settled into the notion that it is gravitationally bound to Earth. All things in space are moving and evolving, and our moon is gradually moving away from Earth about an inch a year.
Just found this site, really easy for the novice to understand, great for children.
Thanks T!