How to Find the Pleiades Star Cluster

Thứ sáu - 26/04/2024 23:11

The Pleiades or Seven Sisters form a beautiful star cluster near the constellation Taurus. This is one of the nearest star clusters to Earth and perhaps the most beautiful to the naked eye. Over the millennia it has inspired folklore...

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The Pleiades or Seven Sisters form a beautiful star cluster near the constellation Taurus. This is one of the nearest star clusters to Earth and perhaps the most beautiful to the naked eye. Over the millennia it has inspired folklore around the world, and is now studied as a recent birthplace for new stars.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

From the Northern Hemisphere

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Look for the Pleiades in autumn and winter. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Pleiades star cluster becomes visible to evening observers in October and disappears in April. November is the best time to look for the Pleiades, when they are visible from dusk to dawn and reach their highest point in the sky.^{[1] X Research source}
- In early October, the Pleiades become visible a couple hours after sunset. By about February, the Pleiades are already high in the sky at sunset.^{[2] X Research source} (The exact timing depends on your latitude.)
- The Pleiades are visible in late summer and early autumn as well, but only in the middle of the night.

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The Pleiades rise in the southeast after dusk and travel west during the night. During their peak in November, they climb high in the sky and disappear in the northwest before dawn. In late winter and early spring, they will only be visible for a few hours, traveling east to west across the southern part of the sky.^{[3] X Research source}

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Orion the Hunter is one of the most famous and distinct constellations in the sky. On a winter evening at a mid-northern latitude, he stands almost due south, about halfway between the horizon and the sky directly above your head.^{[4] X Research source} Locate him by his belt, a straight line of three bright stars close together. The red star nearby, Betelgeuse, forms his left shoulder (from your perspective), while the blue giant Rigel on the other side of the belt is his right leg.^{[5] X Research source}

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Treat Orion's belt as an arrow pointing to your next landmark, moving from left to right in the sky. (At most times and places, this will point to the northwest.) The next bright star you see in this direction is another bright, red-orange star: Aldebaran. This is the Arabic word for "Follower," likely named because it chases the Pleiades each night.^{[6] X Research source}

Aldebaran is not in a perfect line with the belt. Don't try to get there with binoculars, or you may miss it.

Aldebaran dips below the horizon around March, or earlier in extreme northern latitudes.^{[7] X Research source} If Aldebaran isn't visible, try to follow Orion's belt all the way to Pleiades.

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Continue moving your eyes in the same direction (usually northwest), from Orion's belt to Aldebaran and beyond. Fairly near to Aldebaran, you should see a tight cluster of blue stars. These are the Pleiades, also called the Seven Sisters or M45.

Most people can only see six stars with the naked eye, or even just a hazy clump if light pollution interferes.^{[8] X Research source} With a clear night and keen, dark-adjusted eyes, you may see more than seven.

The Seven Sisters are clustered close together. From end to end the cluster is only ⅔ the width of Orion's Belt. This is much less than the length of the Big Dipper or Little Dipper, star patterns which some novice stargazers confuse with this one.

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The red star Aldebaran, described above, is also the eye of the constellation Taurus, the Bull. The Hyades star cluster nearby forms the chin of the bull. If you become familiar with this constellation, you can find it as a starting point and look for the Pleiades nearby.^{[9] X Research source}
Taurus may be difficult to see during a bright moon, especially near an urban area.^{[10] X Research source}