BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Look up! Venus & the Pleiades!

There something beautiful happening in the western sky. Bright Venus is edging closer to the lovely star cluster, the Pleiades (the Seven Sisters). Here Venus and the Seven Sisters are still about 10 degrees apart. This was taken on Wednesday.

On Friday and Saturday they'll be 2.5 degrees apart. Have a look between about 8.30 - 10.00 p.m. your time. Venus is brilliant and the Pleiades have been known since ancient times, so they're both visible to the unaided eye. But you'll really get an eyeful if you have binoculars.

If you have a clear sky tonight, do go out and have a look. (It's cloudy and rainy here, but maybe tomorrow . . .)

Here's where you can find out more about Pleiades - The Seven Sisters.

Astro Bob shows what you might see in the sky tonight. This isn't a photograph of the sky but was created using a planetarium program. Venus and the Pleiades

There have been lots of good photos of Venus and the Pleiades. Here's a picture I especially like because it also shows the Hyades. Both the Pleiades and the Hyades are star clusters in the constellation Taurus. Because of their visibility, they've been known since ancient times. Both are named from Greek mythology after nymphs who were daughters of Atlas.