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Credit & Copyright: Joe Orman
Explanation:
Last November,
while skygazing toward the constellation
Taurus,
astrophotographer Joe Orman arranged this time exposure to
include the lovely Hyades and Pleiades star clusters in the
field of his telephoto lens.
A distance of 400 light-years
for the close-knit
Pleiades
and 150 light-years for the
V-shaped
Hyades
puts these clusters in the general galactic
neighborhood of the Sun.
Punctuating the Hyades' appearance, bright yellow
Aldebaran,
60 light-years away, is not actually a member of the cluster, but it is
Taurus' brightest star.
Above Aldebaran a yellower, even brighter
Saturn
is is seen about 1.2
light-hours
from our fair planet.
Last and least
massive,
one of the faint specks below Aldebaran is
main-belt asteroid Vesta, a mere 13
light-minutes away.
Still cruising through Taurus,
Vesta
is steadily approaching a
close alignment or conjunction with Saturn on March 19.
Need a program to follow the players?
Click on the image
for a labeled version.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Saturn - Vesta - Taurus - hyades - pleiades
Publications with words: Saturn - Vesta - Taurus - hyades - pleiades
See also:
- APOD: 2024 January 29 Á The Pleiades: Seven Dusty Sisters
- Pic du Pleiades
- A Season of Saturn
- APOD: 2023 June 18 Á Saturns Northern Hexagon
- APOD: 2023 March 21 Á Dark Nebulae and Star Formation in Taurus
- APOD: 2023 February 19 Á Seven Dusty Sisters in Infrared
- Messier 45: The Daughters of Atlas and Pleione