Published: April 2, 2020

Screen capture from SkySafari of western sky with Venus and M45The weather may not cooperate tonight, but grab your binos tomorrow evening and take a look at Venus in the western sky as it approaches the Pleiades. The Pleaides is known by many names — Messier 45, Subaru, and the Seven Sisters. This open cluster lies about 440 light years away from us and whereas our sister planet Venus is only about 5.4 light minutes away (61 million miles). Conjunctions of these two celestial objects occur annually, but Venus only passes through the cluster every 8 years. You can find out more about these resonances by visiting skyandtelescope.org.