Friday, January 17, 2025

The Hyades Cluster (all night)

Located only about 150 light years away from the sun, Taurus' triangular face is actually one of the nearest open star clusters to us. It is commonly called The Hyades, named for the five daughters of Atlas in Greek mythology. It also has the designations Melotte 25 and Caldwell 41. The cluster contains several hundred stars, with a half-dozen or so readily seen under moonless suburban skies, many as close pairs. It's a superb target to view in binoculars. The five brightest members, all naked-eye stars, are within a few light years of one another. The cluster's stars likely formed together about 625 million
years ago. The bright orange star Aldebaran, at the southeastern vertex of the Hyades, is actually not part of the cluster. It is less than half as far away! On late January evenings, the Hyades are very high in the southern sky.

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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* Origin: CJ's Place, Orange City FL > cjsplace.thruhere.net (21:2/156)