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Ephemeris: 10/25/2024 – Finding the Pleiades or Seven Sisters

October 25, 2024 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Friday, October 25th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 6:40, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:13. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 2:09 tomorrow morning.

A marvelous member of the autumn skies can be found low in the east northeast after 9 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 that 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 most people can see is six stars. The reason, according to mythology, is that one of the sisters married a mortal, dimming her star.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

A Pleiades Finder chart for about 9 PM this evening, October 25th. The Pleiades appear somewhat brighter here than it actually is in the sky. I find it a challenge to see more than about five of those seven stars. Created using Stellarium with the Pleiades label using LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Named Pleiads
The named stars of the Pleiades. This is also showing more stars than can be seen with the naked eye. This is the number of stars that can be seen in binoculars, which is the best way to observe them. Most telescopes offer too much magnification to fit all the stars in. A small telescope with a thirty power magnification, wide angle eyepiece can just fit all the stars in. Created using Stellarium.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Observing, Star Cluster Tags: ,