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Old 13-11-2005, 02:44 PM
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Argonavis (William)
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 745
Moon runs through Pleiades 16 November

As most will be aware from your "Astronomy 2005", the Moon will "occult" M45 on Wednesday night from around 8pm AEST. You all know how small the Pleiades appear in the sky - tiny little star cluster, not much more than 2 degrees wide.

The Moon substends an angle even less, of 0.5 degree and can pass right through the star cluster without actually occulting any of the unaided eye Pleiade stars. Whether this happens will depend on where you are on the Earth's surface, and the number of naked eye Pleiades that disappear may vary depending on latitude. This makes this event worth following in binoculars. The Moon is full, so it will wash out all but the brightest stars of the cluster.

Don't forget to adjust for summer time.
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