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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 December 9 Á Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster
- APOD: 2024 December 8 Á Aurora around Saturns North Pole
- Saturn at Night
- APOD: 2024 September 29 Á Seven Dusty Sisters
- APOD: 2024 September 3 Á Quarter Moon and Sister Stars
- APOD: 2024 August 27 Á Moon Eclipses Saturn
- APOD: 2024 June 23 Á The Colors of Saturn from Cassini