Little Dipper, and Pleiades near Solar System bodies.

Event Date: March 26th
Time: 8:00 PM

Brief

This evening, we continue looking west as we did yesterday.  I forwarded the clock a bit to show a darker sky.  The reason for this is not just to show the waxing crescent Moon, which is now seen near Venus instead of Jupiter; let's show the famous Pleiades star cluster as well!  This is the brightest and--unarguably because of its appearance in optical aid--the "prettiest" star cluster in the sky.  With the eye alone, some see the six (or more?) visible stars as a wedge, or pizza slice.  Others however, with little astronomy viewing practice, mistake it as the Little Dipper.  Read more about that below, and afterwards, enjoy the image I included of the Pleiades magnified in binoculars with the Moon and Venus.  Preceding that one, is one zoomed out including the ecliptic and the Moon's orbit, which I also talk about next.

Detailed

Although I haven't talked about the Little Dipper along with its "big Brother" Dipper (in size anyway!), the shape is similar as shown in the images for this link above, and I will show it tomorrow.  Since the star Polaris, which I mentioned a few days ago, marks the end of the Dipper's handle and the bear's stretched out tail, that acts as a reminder that the dipper is very close to the northern celestial pole.  The Pleiades however, is much closer to the celestial equator in comparison, and will never appear as far north as either Dipper.
   As for the Moon's position, some viewers on the other side of the world saw it in line with both Venus and Jupiter.  I included its orbit in the image, along with the ecliptic to show the Moon's path over the next few days.  I do this, since the inclination of the Moon's orbit is about 5 1/2º at its extremes.  As shown in the first image, there is an arrow marking the descending node: this is one of two nodes, where the Moon switches in ecliptic latitude, which I mentioned briefly in the "equinox" entry back on the 19th. 
    I will talk more about the nodes later in the year, when we find out why they are so significant.  This last image brings us back to the Little Dipper's position in the sky, almost directly north.  Observe the stick figure, which shows the position of the handle in relation to the cup.  Being a circumpolar asterism, long nights during the winter, late fall and early spring, give us a chance to see the Little Dipper's dim stars make a revolution around the north Axis.  Polaris, marking the tail, makes the tightest revolution.

*click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.