Good evening, fellow stargazers!
At a distance of about 444 light years (give or take) the Pleiades Star Cluster -- also known as the "Seven Sisters" and Messier 45 -- is among the nearest star clusters to Earth an a lovely feature in the night sky, especially during the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere.
This lovely asterism, which appears as a small, faint dipper of stars, is just visible to the naked eye, if you know where to look for it that is.
But how do you find it in the night sky?
Well, for the amateur stargazer, there is a very easy and fun way to locate the Pleiades using the main stars and asterisms of the nearby constellations.
Start with locating Sirius, the "Dog Star" in the Constellation Canis Major The Greater Dog. Sirius is easy to spot as the brightest star in the evening sky. It also serves as the bottom corner of the Winter Triangle asterism, along with the stars Procyon and Betelgeuse.
From there follow a line northwest between Sirius to the three stars of Orion's Belt -- the three bright stars: Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka in the Constellation Orion The Hunter.
From one end of Orion's Belt to the other, follow another line to the reddish star, Aldebaran, the "Eye of the Bull" in the Constellation Taurus The Bull.
From Aldebaran trace one more line northwest until you find the lovely Pleiades.
As y'all can see in my evening photos, I traced the lines from Sirius to the Pleiades. Its almost a straight line, more or less. Sirius and Aldebaran are both large enough stars to locate easily in the evening sky, and Orion's Belt is probably one of the easiest asterisms to notice.
Using them all as focal points for your line, locating the Seven Sisters is easy -- though you might want to wait at least an hour after sunset to spot them easily without the aid to a telescope, or a good pair of binoculars.
Be sure to try it out sometime. Let me know in the comments below if y'all enjoyed this presentation. Have a good evening and keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all!
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