Home > Ephemeris Program, Mythology, Observing, Star Clusters > Ephemeris: 11/06/2023 – The Pleiades or Seven Sisters

Ephemeris: 11/06/2023 – The Pleiades or Seven Sisters

November 6, 2023

This is Ephemeris for Monday, November 6th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 57 minutes, setting at 5:25, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:28. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 1:18 tomorrow morning.

A marvelous member of the autumn skies can be found low in the east after 8 in the evening. It is the famous star cluster called the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. I might also add the ‘Tiny Dipper’. Many people can spot a tiny dipper shape in its six or seven stars, and mistake it for the Little Dipper. With binoculars, one can see over a hundred stars appear, along with the dipper shape of the brightest. In photographs, the Pleiades actually contain wisps of the dust they are currently passing through. In Greek mythology, the sisters were daughters of the god Atlas and Pleione.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT –5 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Pleiades Rising
The Pleiades rising at 8 p.m. in early November. Created using Stellarium.
The Pleiades and Hyades
According to Greek mythology, this is a family portrait of the daughters of the god Atlas. The Hyades, which are also seen as the face of the constellation Taurus the bull, are the half sisters of the Pleiades. Astronomically, they are the older sisters. The Pleiades is the splashier of the two star clusters, being much younger, and having their hottest and brightest stars not yet having burned out. The Pleiades is three times farther away than the Hyades. The first magnitude star Aldebaran is not a member of the Hyades and is about half their distance away. The underlying photograph is mine.
The dusty reflection nebula surrounding and illuminated by the stars of the Pleiades
The dusty reflection nebula surrounding and illuminated by the stars of the Pleiades. Credit Dan Dall’Olmo.

I’ll be coming back to the Pleiades from time to time over the autumn and winter months to cover, especially, the mythology of the Pleiades from different cultures.

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