Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2019 December 6 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Pleiades to Hyades Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Amir H. Abolfath ([5]TWAN) Explanation: [6]This cosmic vista stretches almost 20 degrees from top to bottom, across the [7]dusty constellation Taurus. It begins at the Pleiades and ends at the Hyades, two star clusters recognized [8]since antiquity in Earth's night sky. At top, the compact [9]Pleiades star cluster is about 400 light-years away. The lovely grouping of young cluster stars shine through dusty clouds that scatter blue starlight. At bottom, the V-shaped Hyades cluster looks more spread out in comparison and lies much closer, [10]150 light-years away. The [11]Hyades cluster stars seem anchored by [12]bright Aldebaran, a red giant star with a yellowish appearance. But Aldebaran actually lies only 65 light-years distant and just by chance along the line of sight to the Hyades cluster. Faint and darkly obscuring dust clouds found near the edge of the [13]Taurus Molecular Cloud are also evident throughout the celestial scene. The wide field of view includes the dark nebula [14]Barnard 22 at left with youthful star [15]T Tauri and Hind's variable nebula just above Aldebaran in the frame. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space __________________________________________________________________ [16]< | [17]Archive | [18]Submissions | [19]Index | [20]Search | [21]Calendar | [22]RSS | [23]Education | [24]About APOD | [25]Discuss | [26]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [27]Robert Nemiroff ([28]MTU) & [29]Jerry Bonnell ([30]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [31]Specific rights apply. [32]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [33]ASD at [34]NASA / [35]GSFC & [36]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1912/TaurusAbolfath.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. http://amir.torgheh.ir/about.php 5. http://www.twanight.org/newTWAN/index.asp 6. http://amir.torgheh.ir/picture.php?/1404/category/13 7. http://comfychair.org/~cmbell/myth/taurus.html 8. http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng240/shield_of_achilles.htm 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191107.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121224.html 11. http://www.nightskyinfo.com/archive/hyades/ 12. http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/aldebaran.html 13. https://www.herschel.caltech.edu/image/nhsc2017-002c 14. https://cosmicpursuits.com/2538/the-taurus-molecular-cloud/ 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110326.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191205.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 20. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 25. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=191206 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191207.html 27. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 30. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 32. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 33. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 34. https://www.nasa.gov/ 35. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 36. http://www.mtu.edu/