Home > Ephemeris Program, Observing, Star Cluster > Ephemeris: 11/13/2025 – Looking at the Pleiades or Seven Sisters

Ephemeris: 11/13/2025 – Looking at the Pleiades or Seven Sisters

November 13, 2025

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, November 13th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 38 minutes, setting at 5:16, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:38. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 1:56 tomorrow morning.

A marvelous member of the autumn skies can be found low in the east around 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 that appear, along with the dipper shape of the brightest. In photographs, the Pleiades actually illuminate wisps of the dust that surround them. In Greek mythology, the sisters were daughters of the god Atlas and Pleione. The most people can only 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 in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Finding the Pleiades at about 8 PM or 3 hours after sunset for mid-northern latitudes, showing the eastern sky with and without annotations. Created using Stellarium, annotations using LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
The Pleiades in a long exposure photograph embedded in a dusty reflection nebula.
The Pleiades, in a long exposure photograph, embedded in a dusty reflection nebula. Credit: Daniel Dall’Olmo.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Observing, Star Cluster Tags: ,