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Credit & Copyright: Fred Espenak
(Bifrost
Astronomical Observatory)
Explanation:
After wandering
about as far from the Sun on the sky as Venus can get,
the brilliant evening star
crossed paths with the
Pleiades
star cluster earlier this week.
The beautiful conjunction was enjoyed by
skygazers
around the world.
Taken on April 2,
this
celestial group photo captures the view from Portal, Arizona, USA.
Also known as the Seven Sisters, even the brighter
naked-eye Pleiades stars are seen to be much fainter than Venus.
And while Venus and the sisters do look star-crossed,
their spiky appearance is the
diffraction
pattern caused by
multiple leaves in the aperture of the telephoto lens.
The last similar conjunction of Venus and Pleiades
occurred nearly 8 years ago.
As it did then,
Venus will again move on to
cross paths with the
disk of the Sun in June.
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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: pleiades - conjunction
Publications with words: pleiades - conjunction
See also:
- A Conjunction of Crescents
- APOD: 2025 January 27 Á Pleiades over Half Dome
- APOD: 2024 December 9 Á Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster
- APOD: 2024 September 29 Á Seven Dusty Sisters
- APOD: 2024 September 3 Á Quarter Moon and Sister Stars
- APOD: 2024 January 29 Á The Pleiades: Seven Dusty Sisters
- Pic du Pleiades