TAG | Crescent Moon intertwine with Pleiades: April 8, 2008 |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Tuesday, 08 April 2008 | |
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Page 1 of 2 The western night sky will be the stage for the spectacular event as a 12% crescent Moon moves into conjunction with the Pleiades (pronounced PLEE-ah-deez). “Into conjunction” means that the Moon will appear along side with the Pleiades. At least, on Earth it will appear that they will be side-by-side. In actuality, the Moon is about 238,000 miles (384,000 kilometers) away from Earth, while the Pleiades are about 400 light years away, where one light-year is the distance that light travels, on average, in one Earth-year while in the vacuum of space: about 5.88 trillion miles (9.48 trillion kilometers). And, a “12% crescent Moon” means that approximately twelve percent of the Moon, as seen on Earth, will be illuminated by the Sun (while about 88% of the Moon is blocked out from the Sun's rays by the Earth). For the month of April, the Moon will be “new” on April 5, at “first quarter” on April 12, “full” on April 20, and at “third quarter” on April 28. The Pleiades, also called M45 and SED, are an open cluster of young stars in the constellation of Taurus (the Bull). There are about one thousand confirmed members of the group. A picture of the Pleiades appears at "NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day." A picture of the relative position of the Moon and the Pleiades appears at the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society. webpage “Moon Occults Pleiades April 8th.” The brightest stars within the Pleiades are hot blue stars that formed about 100 million years ago. They are often called the Seven Sisters. Several of the Seven Sister stars form a small dipper-shaped figure that is about as wide as the Moon (as they appear in the night sky). Why is the Pleiades also called the Seven Sisters? And, when is the best time to view the conjunction of the Moon with the Seven Sisters? Please read on. |
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