Luna meets the ‘Seven Sisters’
The Pleiades (M45) is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type (blue-white) stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
This star cluster is also known as the ‘Seven Sisters’, daughters of the titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione in Greek mythology. In Filipino culture, this is referred as ‘The Rosary’ because of its appearance.
- Notice that close group of stars near the moon? (click image to enlarge)
Tonight, the Pleiades can be found near the waning gibbous moon. Look for these two rising at the eastern sky around 8 PM (PST).
* * * * *
Image taken by Andre Obidos
One September Night…
The month of September which was highlighted with rich planetary displays, the occurrence of autumnal equinox and an international moon viewing event was just over. This also marked the change of seasons and the start of having longer nights.
In the Philippines, September is usually visited by several typhoons which means that most of the time, the sky is cloudy. If you live in the city where light pollution is more severe, your chances of having a clear sky with good viewing conditions also diminishes.
This is why, seeing the sky full of stars one clear September night was really a great blessing for us. Thank God there was fairly good view of the south and western sky where the nice crescent moon together with two of the most prominent zodiacal constellations, Scorpius and Sagittarius could be found then. The red star Antares, heart of Scorpius, was just a few degrees below the beautiful waxing crescent moon.
But not only Luna and these constellations were captured by the camera. Three deep-sky objects surprised us after giving the pictures a closer look! 😀 These objects were usually difficult to see without the aid of binoculars or telescopes.
- Luna and Antares
- The Crown, the Teapot and the Scorpion’s tail (click to view larger image)
- M6, M7 and M8 near the teapot
- Luna behind the leaves
- Bird’s beak moon? 🙂
- Waxing Crescent Moon (enhanced in Registax v.5.1) Notice its craters near the terminator.
I wish the sky would always be like this 🙂
Thank you to Andre Obidos, a fellow amateur from the Philippines, who took these photos using Canon PowerShot SX 20.
Clear skies to all! 😀
The Sky this July 2010
prominent constellations, deep-sky objects and planetary conjunctions
For more on astronomy go to http://www.hubblesite.org/
Clear skies!
Journey to the Stars 