“A Rare Meeting of the Moon and the Seven Sisters, Plus the Moon Visits Two Planets”

Scheduled air date: 2006 Mar 27-Apr 02

The Waxing Crescent Moon appears in the midst of the Pleiades open star cluster on the evening of April 1...
(Shown about an hour after sunset on April 1st for mid-northern latitudes.)

...The Moon will appear to transit—or move across—the famous cluster over a period of more than three hours. Viewers in the eastern United States will be able to view the entire transit after sunset. Sunset will occur during mid-transit for viewers in the central United States, and the transit will be finished before sunset for viewers in the western United States.

Next week, the Moon will appear near Mars on April 3rd, and Saturn on the 6th.
(Shown about an hour after sunset for mid-northern latitudes.)

If you wish to view illustrations for other episodes, please see our Star Gazer Illustrated directory.

Illustrations on this page were created using TheSky6 Astronomy Software, an advanced desktop planetarium program designed for Windows. Copyright © 1999-2006 by Software Bisque, Inc.