From Deseret News archives:
Pleiades star cluster visible Tuesday night
The Seven Sisters is the ancient Greek name for the Pleiades star cluster, which actually has hundreds of dim stars and as many as 14 visible to the naked eye under stellar conditions. With enough magnification, they seem bound closely together by the hazy wisps of a nebula.
On Tuesday evening, the thin crescent moon will be close to, or amid, the Pleiades, depending on one's location. Unfortunately, the National Weather Service is predicting that Tuesday night weather will be snowy, rainy, cloudy or threatening snow across nearly all of Utah.
But if some kindly zephyr should get the state out of this predicament, the view through binoculars or a smaller telescope should be spectacular. (Simply viewing may not work, as the moon's brightness will wash the stars without the help of optical aid, according to Astronomy Magazine.)
"It's going to be pretty," said Patrick Wiggins, NASA solar system ambassador to Utah and eastern Nevada. The moon will look like a Cheshire-cat grin, delicate and tiny, he said. To see it "hanging up amongst this beautiful cluster of stars, the Pleiades" should be a fine sight.
As soon as the sun sinks below the horizon, look toward the west and the moon should be close to the cluster. Nobody should look at the sun with our without magnification.
If the atmosphere is clear, the spectacle should be visible anywhere in the United States.
"It's going to be like a grin coming in from space," he said of the moon. The moon should be setting by 11 p.m., along with the lovely scene.
However, Wiggins said, "the Pleiades will be a little difficult to see in light-polluted skies." He advised Salt Lake area residents to drive away from Salt Lake Valley for a better view.
Maybe some will be driving Subaru cars. Wiggins noted that Subaru is Japanese for Pleiades.
