BENJAMIN
Welcome to Idaho Skies for
the week of November 11th. We’re your hosts, Benjamin…
DAN
…and Dan.
BENJAMIN
The full moon travels past two bright and large star
clusters this week. The first cluster is the Pleiades. You probably know the
Pleiades as the Seven Sisters, but astronomers have an official designation, M-45.
M-45 is a close star cluster. So it appears large and bright in the night sky.
The moon will make a distant pass of the cluster later this week.
DAN
Get your binoculars and observe M-45. Be sure to compare the
view of the Pleiades to your unaided eye and through binoculars. If you’re like
most people, you’ll see six or maybe seven stars with just your eyes. However, with
binoculars the number of stars explodes. You might see as many as two dozen
glittering stars.
BENJAMIN
On the 13th, our moon makes it way to the Hyades
star cluster. The Hyades are closer to our solar system then the Pleiades.
Unfortunately, the star cluster is sparser and therefore, less dazzling. Still,
binoculars will show stargazers some two dozen stars in this cluster. But don’t
be fooled by its brightest star.
DAN
The ancients named the brightest star of Taurus Aldebaran.
And it just so happens to appear in the same view as the Hyades. However,
Aldebaran is only half as far away as the Hyades. So from Earth, it only looks
like Aldebaran is a member of the Hyades. Because of its reddish tint, people
consider Aldebaran to be the eye of Taurus the Bull.
BENJAMIN
That’s Idaho Skies
for the week of November 11th.
DAN
Be sure to follow us on Twitter @IdahoSkies for this
week’s event reminders and sky maps.
For Idaho Skies this is DAN…
BENJAMIN
…and Benjamin.
DAN
Dark skies and bright stars.
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