That old devil moon’s up to its old tricks again. Tomorrow morning, early risers will see it tucked inside the V-shaped face of Taurus the Bull. Better known as the Hyades star cluster, look for the crescent to pass just 1° north of the bright star Aldebaran. A pair of binoculars will enhance the view by pulling in more stars and revealing details in the spooky, earth-lit moon. Sunlight illuminates the lunar crescent, but the remainder is light reflecting off Earth out to the moon and back again.
To the eye, ‘earthlight’ looks smoky gray and nearly featureless though binoculars will show the lunar seas and larger craters. The quality of the light mimics a lunar eclipse but instead of red we see the pale blue glow of sunlight reflecting back from our planet’s oceans.
At 153 light years, the Hyades is the nearest star cluster to our solar system, one of the reasons you can see it without a telescope. Aldebaran appears to be a full-fledged cluster member, but it’s a ruse. The bright, ruddy star lies much closer to us along the same line of sight.
The Hyades were born in a dense cloud of interstellar dust and gas 625 million years ago around the time underwater life flourished in the late Precambrian era. When you gaze at the cluster tomorrow, the light that touches your retinas left the Hyades the same time Abraham Lincoln took office.
The moon moves on toward Venus after vacationing in the Hyades, passing south of the planet on Thursday morning. It will be extremely thin that morning and should make a pretty sight for anyone looking low in the northeastern sky 45 minutes before sunrise.