Look high in the southern sky tonight (Feb. 24) to see the moon shining close to the stars of the constellation Taurus, mere hours after reaching its first quarter phase. Its right half will be bathed in sunlight and its left hidden beneath a cloak of shadow.
To the naked eye, the lunar disk will appear half-lit, with the soft light cast by the 1,000 blue-white stars of the Pleiades open cluster shining a little over 10 degrees — roughly the width of your clenched fist held at arm's length — to its lower right. Look roughly the same distance to the moon's lower left to find the "V" formation of stars of the Hyades open cluster, which represents the face of the Great Bull in the constellation Taurus, with the red star Aldebaran serving as the red eye of the horned beast.
