Sirius Stargazing: The Pleiades (M45) Video

In this episode, we look at the Pleiades Open Cluster in Taurus, one of the closest clusters and certainly the clearest in the night sky.

I would like to thank Dr. Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, for his appearance in this episode. You can and should be reading his excellent blog at:
• http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/

Please subscribe to be notified about new episodes. You can also follow me on twitter at:
• http://www.twitter.com/SiriusStargazer

If you're sirius about stargazing, please check out the following organisations.

Royal Astronomical Society:
• http://www.ras.org.uk/
British Astronomical Association:
• http://britastro.org/baa
Campaign for Dark Skies:
• http://www.britastro.org/dark-skies/

Clear skies!

Save & Share:

HolidayNova: excellent.. i'm going to the mountains in Croatia again where I cant see my hand at night when it's overcast. The stars are crystal clear. I'll by and bring some binoculars. I'll be going to northern Sweden soon but I don't know if it will be overcast, it seems to be overcast every day in stockholm.

AndromedasWake: @gothyhannah RIght now Taurus is already up after sunset, so look East/South-East at about 6pm to see it.

gothyhannah: thanks love :) great videos by the way am a amiture at the moment x

senoctar: You could point out other means of locating objects in the sky. I use Cartes du Ciel on PC, and there's an awesome app for Android phones called Google Sky (the shoould be similar apps fo the iPhone).

1RadicalOne: AW, are you actually working with this "Phil Plait"? It IS a small world...

1RadicalOne: While using Celestia, I've seen the Pleiades (from Sol) repeatedly - they ARE striking.

martiangrundy: A great little object, for those with reasonable bino's, or a decent little scope, is the Ring nebula, in Lyra. It's just like a little ghostly doughnut. And it's always nice and high, up in the sky. Another awesome thing is the Andromeda galaxy, which is actually a naked eye object, but only from the darkest of skies. But one can get a glimps, with bino's and small scope. The actual photons you'll catch with your retina left there 2.2 million years ago. if that doesn't blow ya away, I give up.

martiangrundy: OH, just a little tip. If anyone is having trouble seeing a faint object, look just to the side of it, our eyes are slightly more sensitive just off centre. you'de be surprised just what you can see, with a little practice, and properly dark adapted eyes.

AndromedasWake: @1RadicalOne Unfortunately not! But I met him at TAM London where he agreed to film that little clip. He's an absolutely smashing chap. If you were there, you may remember he dropped by our big charity blogtv show to help raise money for MSF. He's the president of the James Randi Educational Foundation and I couldn't think of a better man for the job.

803brando: TK what impact does ambient light have on ones efforts to see stars a little further away than what can be seen with the naked eye? i live on the west coast of the US, near a mountain range that has a high desert on the back side with little to no ambient light for hundreds of square miles.

wiseodd: Hi Wake. Im not much into astronomy as such, but ihve been following your work in AndromedasWake for a while. In my opinion, you do some very good video work (im a professional web tv producer). This i just a big thanx for your work :) Rigtig godt arbejde, både med AW og Sirius Stargazing!

BIGFACE08: i saw m45 with my 15x70 bins awesome sight

ChaosAngel999: M45 is one of my favorite open clusters because of the distinct shape, easy of visibility even in the city's light pollution, and the fact that it comes out for Winter, my favorite season. These videos are inspiring me to convince my photography fiend friend to go out one night to take some pictures.

kalamain: Finally got my new bins out tonight after all the rain we have had of late. I found the cluster easy enough and I could 'split' Asterope. Although I did find the pair in the centre of the cluster I could not 'split' it at all. I could not find the one next to Alcyone at all. Could it be that the brightness was too much? Even though I could find the others? Anyway....Keep up the good work.

visigothsatthegates: thanks for this series. I used to star gaze as a kid with my Dad, but I forgot practically all he taught me and want to regain this knowledge

capilot: At star parties, when talking to tourists, I often refer to the Pleiades as "The tiny dipper"

FluffMachine: PHIL!

rabbitpirate: Hey congrats on the plug from Phil on his Bad Astronomy website, that is bound to increase your viewership.

thirdclass2006: Now that I've seen this, I'll have to endeavour to "split" those various stars! Unfortunately, I don't have binoculors, and have to do with my 4" Newtonian reflector.

ConfusedContrail: I don't think anyone is going to be able to see the donut shape of the Ring Nebula with binoculars. They simply don't have enough magnification to make it appear much more than a stellar object. Andromeda M31 however is an excellent object for both binoculars and telescopes.

ConfusedContrail: If you wan't to get into serious astrophotography, You should get something on an eq mount, not on single fork type alt azimuth mount.

TheFifthApes: Yep, thanks. I've been doing some reading and you're right, the alt az. mount would give too much field-rotation for long-exposure photography. I'm now looking at a C8 on an CG-5GT mount. It's amazing that it's almost a $500 difference for the EQ mount. Damn this expensive hobby! Clear skies.

Funzhine: I got my binoculars today and my right led light but the moon is right on it today so i hope i can check it out some other time . Also there's allot off airplane trials in the sky :/

martiangrundy: Hi there. I didn't mean to give the impression the ring neb in Lyra was suitable for Bino's, but it's fine for a decent quality smallish scope.

Frosti2008: I love this generic man.

Author: SiriusStargazing; Uploaded: Nov 7, 2009; Duration: 5:35; Views: 8339

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