Ephemeris: 11/02/2026 – Finding the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters
This is Ephemeris for Monday, November 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 5:29, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:23. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 1:08 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. Most people can only see six stars. The reason, according to mythology, is that one of the sisters married a mortal, dimming her star in shame.
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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
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