ByJamie Carter,
Senior Contributor.
A handful of diamonds, a fuzzy cloud of light, a baby dipper. Just three of the ways skywatchers describe the familiar Pleiades star cluster (also called M45 and the Seven Sisters) are among the most beautiful objects in the entire night sky. This Wednesday, Dec. 3, the Pleiades — now easy to see high in the southeast after dark from the Northern Hemisphere — will be occulted, or eclipsed, by the moon. Here’s everything you need to know about the rare event.
To see the event, head outside shortly after dark on Wednesday, Dec. 3, and you will see the moon shining just to the upper right of the Pleiades initially in the eastern night sky, moving to the southeast. As the night wears on, the moon will move through the Pleiades, with the best views from around 8:30 p.m. through midnight local time across North America.
The moon will be 99% illuminated — just a day before becoming a full cold supermoon — making it especially bright. It will appear to pass just under a degree from the Pleiades, creating a spectacular contrast between the glowing lunar surface and the delicate sparkle of the cluster. In some locations, individual stars of the cluster may briefly skim the moon’s edge or even be occulted. However, since the moon will be so bright, a pair of binoculars will be required to see the Pleiades around the lunar limb.
