Looking into the vast expanse of the night sky can be both mesmerizing and a bit intimidating.
What are you seeing?
The answer is a lot.
To help narrow it down to one thing for you to look for this week, I had an online chat with Tom Wildoner from the Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly.
"On the 18 and 19, we're going to have the crescent moon in the western sky. You're going to see the planet Mars and you're going to see a star cluster called the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters," said Wildoner.
Spotting Mars and the Pleiades in the night sky isn't uncommon but this week they will stage a conjunction.
"A conjunction in astronomical terms is anytime things appear close together in the night sky," said Wildoner.
While they appear close together, seeing isn't believing.
Mars is roughly 144 million miles from Earth.
"The Pleiades are 444 light-years from Earth. Each light year represents six trillion miles," said Wildoner. "So even though they look really close in the sky, they're really far apart from one another."
The Pleiades have an interesting history.
"From Native American Indians, they referred to it as 'The Seven Maidens.' The Maidens were being chased by a giant bear. The Great Spirit took the Maidens and put them in the sky to get them away from the giant bear," explained Wildoner.
You've more than likely seen the Pleiades here on Earth and you didn't even know it.
"Subaru actually uses the Pleiades star cluster as their symbol. In Japanese, Subaru means Pleiades cluster," said Wildoner.
To see this conjunction, look to the western sky in the evening. The waxing crescent moon will guide you to Mars and the Pleiades. You'll spot at least five stars in the Pleiades star cluster.
"If you have really good eyesight you're able to see six," said Wildoner. "If you have exceptionally good eyesight you can spot seven stars with the naked eye."
Wildoner adds that with even just binoculars, the Pleiades star cluster will really look great.
