Happy Wednesday space lovers! It’s time for another #WUFO Stargazing Side Quest! For week 44 we will be looking for an open star cluster in the Taurus constellation commonly referred to as the Seven Sisters: M45 aka The Pleiades!
The Pleiades is one of the easiest Messier objects to find in the night sky. Tonight we will get there by “star hopping” from Mars. Look east to find a bright red “star” (Mars). It will be above Orion which is now more and more visible at this time of year.
To the right of Mars you’ll see a red star that looks similar to Mars, but smaller and much more twinkly. That’s Aldebaran! We found Aldebaran all the way back in #WUFO week 4! Notice how Aldebaran twinkles, but Mars does not. That’s because stars emit their own light.
From Aldebaran look up a bit and you should easily find the Pleiades. You may not even need to star hop at all, that’s how easy this cluster is to find! It looks like a fuzzy, itty bitty big dipper. šø I got these pics of M45 with just a 5yr old smartphone about a week ago.
If you have a pair of binoculars I highly recommend checking out the Pleiades with them. I personally think the whole Taurus constellation is gorgeous with binoculars. Even if you have light polluted skies, a small pair of binoculars will suddenly reveal a ton of stars!
The recording and materials for my class Stargazing for Paranormal Investigators that I hosted live last June is now 50% OFF THROUGH THE END OF THE YEAR
Happy Wednesday WUFO friends! For our 70th week we will be finding a crown in the sky – the constellation Corona Borealis. Corona Borealis is a small constellation near last week’s side quest target Bootes. Read more…
Happy Wednesday! It’s time for our 69th week of #WUFO! For this weeks Stargazing Side quest we will be looking for the constellation Boƶtes! The constellation Boƶtes is the herdsman of the night sky. Boƶtes Read more…
Happy Wednesday, everyone! Tonight for the week of May 3rd 2023 we will be gazing lovingly at the nearly full waxing gibbous Moon and our stargazing side quest target this week: the star Spica. Spica Read more…
Happy Wednesday space lovers! It’s time for another #WUFO Stargazing Side Quest! For week 44 we will be looking for an open star cluster in the Taurus constellation commonly referred to as the Seven Sisters: M45 aka The Pleiades!
To the right of Mars you’ll see a red star that looks similar to Mars, but smaller and much more twinkly. That’s Aldebaran! We found Aldebaran all the way back in #WUFO week 4! Notice how Aldebaran twinkles, but Mars does not. That’s because stars emit their own light.
From Aldebaran look up a bit and you should easily find the Pleiades. You may not even need to star hop at all, that’s how easy this cluster is to find! It looks like a fuzzy, itty bitty big dipper. šø I got these pics of M45 with just a 5yr old smartphone about a week ago.
If you have a pair of binoculars I highly recommend checking out the Pleiades with them. I personally think the whole Taurus constellation is gorgeous with binoculars. Even if you have light polluted skies, a small pair of binoculars will suddenly reveal a ton of stars!
The recording and materials for my class Stargazing for Paranormal Investigators that I hosted live last June is now 50% OFF THROUGH THE END OF THE YEAR
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