Friday December 20, 2024

The Hyades Cluster (all night)

Located only about 150 light years away from the sun, Taurus, the Bull's triangular face is actually one of the nearest open star clusters to our solar system. Its stars are commonly called The Hyades, named for the five daughters of Atlas in Greek mythology. It also has the designations Melotte 25 and Caldwell 41. The cluster contains several hundred stars, with a half-dozen or so readily seen under moonless suburban skies, many as close-together pairs. It's a superb target to view in binoculars. The five brightest members, all naked-eye stars, are within a few light years of one another. The cluster's stars likely formed together about 625 million years ago. The bright orange star Aldebaran, at the lower (or southeastern) vertex of the Hyades triangle, is actually not part of the cluster. It is less than half as far away! In mid- December, the Hyades climbs the eastern sky in early evening and reaches its highest point due south around 10:30 p.m. local time. This winter, Jupiter
will be gleaming just a palm's width to the left (or 6 degrees to the
celestial northeast) of the bull's face.

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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* Origin: CJ's Place, Orange City FL > cjsplace.thruhere.net (21:2/156)