Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2020 April 4

                            Venus and the Sisters
        Image Credit & Copyright: Fred Espenak (Bifrost Astronomical
                                Observatory)

   Explanation: After wandering about as far from the Sun on the sky as
   Venus can get, the brilliant evening star is crossing paths with the
   sister stars of the Pleiades cluster. Look west after sunset and you
   can share the ongoing conjunction with skygazers around the world.
   Taken on April 2, this celestial group photo captures the view from
   Portal, Arizona, USA. Even bright naked-eye Pleiades stars prove to be
   much fainter than Venus though. Apparent in deeper telescopic images,
   the cluster's dusty surroundings and familiar bluish reflection nebulae
   aren't quite visible, while brighter Venus itself is almost
   overwhelming in the single exposure. And while Venus and the Sisters do
   look a little star-crossed, their spiky appearance is the diffraction
   pattern caused by multiple leaves in the aperture of the telephoto
   lens. The last similar conjunction of Venus and Pleiades occurred
   nearly 8 years ago.

                   Tomorrow's picture: color the universe
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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