Stargazing Side Quest Week 51 – El Nath

Welcome everyone to the first Stargazing Side Quest of 2023! I am so excited to be getting started on another year of WUFO and learning the night sky together!

This week we will be looking for a giant star in the constellation Taurus called El Nath (Beta Tauri)! This star is located at the tip of the bull’s horns and will be especially easy to see this week because the nearly full Moon will be right next to it.

Look for the bright star right near the Moon – that’s El Nath!

If you want an extra challenge, while you’re looking at the Moon and El Nath, you will also probably see a bright reddish star that’s actually the planet Mars! From Mars you’ll also be able to find a few of last year’s side quest targets: the Pleiades cluster (M45) and another star in the Taurus constellation called Aldebaran. Aldebaran is similarly reddish like Mars, but not as bright.

To learn more about the second brightest star in the Taurus constellation, check out this website here.

Be sure to follow @stargazingsidequest on Instagram and tag us there and @liminal.earth with the tag with your stargazing pics so we can boost your achievement for this week! Hurray for starting off the new year with fun sky watching together! Happy new year everyone!

 

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