Last November, while skygazing [
http://pages.prodig…JoeGallery.html ] toward the constellation Taurus [
http://hou.lbl.gov/…], 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 [
http://school.disco…schooladventures/uni verse/itsawesome/lig htyears/ ] for the close-knit Pleiades [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and 150 light-years for the V-shaped [
http://www.aspsky.o…] Hyades [
http://astro.estec.…] puts these clusters in the general galactic neighborhood [
http://www.anzwers.…250lys.html ] of the Sun. Punctuating the Hyades' appearance, bright yellow Aldebaran [
http://www.astro.ui…], 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 [
http://space.jpl.na…vbody=3&month=11&day =17¢ury=20&decad e=0&year=1&hour=00& minute=0&rfov=30&fov mul=-1&bfov=30 ] is is seen about 1.2 light-hours [
http://casswww.ucsd…] from our fair planet. Last and least massive [
http://aa.usno.navy…], one of the faint specks below Aldebaran is main-belt asteroid [
http://www.seds.org…asteroids.html ] Vesta, a mere 13 light-minutes [
http://www.unmuseum…] away. Still cruising through Taurus, Vesta [
http://oposite.stsc…] is steadily approaching a close alignment or conjunction [
http://scienceworld…Conjunction.html ] with Saturn on March 19. Need a program [
http://pages.prodig…JoeAlmanac2002.html ] to follow the players? Click on the image for a labeled version.
Explanation
Last November, while skygazing [
http://pages.prodig…JoeGallery.html ] toward the constellation Taurus [
http://hou.lbl.gov/…], 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 [
http://school.disco…schooladventures/uni verse/itsawesome/lig htyears/ ] for the close-knit Pleiades [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and 150 light-years for the V-shaped [
http://www.aspsky.o…] Hyades [
http://astro.estec.…] puts these clusters in the general galactic neighborhood [
http://www.anzwers.…250lys.html ] of the Sun. Punctuating the Hyades' appearance, bright yellow Aldebaran [
http://www.astro.ui…], 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 [
http://space.jpl.na…vbody=3&month=11&day =17¢ury=20&decad e=0&year=1&hour=00& minute=0&rfov=30&fov mul=-1&bfov=30 ] is is seen about 1.2 light-hours [
http://casswww.ucsd…] from our fair planet. Last and least massive [
http://aa.usno.navy…], one of the faint specks below Aldebaran is main-belt asteroid [
http://www.seds.org…asteroids.html ] Vesta, a mere 13 light-minutes [
http://www.unmuseum…] away. Still cruising through Taurus, Vesta [
http://oposite.stsc…] is steadily approaching a close alignment or conjunction [
http://scienceworld…Conjunction.html ] with Saturn on March 19. Need a program [
http://pages.prodig…JoeAlmanac2002.html ] to follow the players? Click on the image for a labeled version.
Explanation
