Look high above the southeastern horizon in the hours following sunset on Jan. 27 to see the waxing gibbous moon shine alongside the Pleiades open star cluster in the constellation Taurus.
At sunset, the 76%-lit moon will dominate the winter sky, with the Pleiades positioned less than 5 degrees to the right of the moon. Located about 440 light-years from Earth, the light we see from the Pleiades tonight began its journey in the late 1500s, long before the invention of the telescope! The soft glow cast by the roughly 1,000-strong stellar hive will become more apparent as dusk fades to night, though the reflected light of the waxing moon will make viewing it with the naked eye a greater challenge than on previous nights.
Both the moon and Pleiades will be close enough to share the field of view of a pair of 10X50 binoculars, which will help reveal the handful of dazzling blue-white stars from which the cluster gets its "Seven Sisters" moniker — Asterope, Alcyone, Celaeno, Electra, Merope, Maia and Taygete.
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A telescope with an aperture of 6 inches will bring dozens more, fainter stars of the ancient cluster into view. It will also allow you to explore a host of dramatically shadowed impact sites — such as the Clavius and Tycho craters — scarring the southern lunar surface close to the line separating night from day, known as the terminator.
Over the course of the night, the moon will appear to drift away from the Pleiades, before finally setting shortly after 3 a.m. local time on Jan. 28. Remember to use a trusted website like Time and Date to discover the exact times that the moon will rise and fall from your location.
Want to see the clue-white stars of the Pleiades and the craters of the moon up close? Then be sure to read our roundups of the best telescopes and binoculars for exploring the night sky. Astrophotographers may also want to read our guide to photographing the moon, along with our picks of the best lenses for immortalizing the post-sunset realm.
Editor's Note: If you capture the moon shining with the Pleiades and want to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
