Another celestial treat awaits us tonight, as Mercury appears just two degrees from the Pleiades star cluster at sunset.  You’ll find the pair following the sun into your WNW horizon, with Mercury leading the way about eight degrees behind Sol.

Of course, the fun doesn’t stop there.  As the sky darkens, look about six degrees NE of Mercury, for the beautiful V-shaped Hyades – a group totaling about three-hundred stars.  That especially bright orange-tinted star, shining within the left arm of the Hyades’ V, is the red-giant Aldebaran, a coincidental forefront star nearly one-hundred-light years closer than the Hyades cluster.

Our solar system’s brightest asteriod, Vesta, is cruising silently by, about three degrees right of Hyades.  This space rock appears as a seventh-magnitude star, so your best chance at distinguishing it from the background stars is to watch the Hyades region for several nights.  Make note of the star patterns and you’ll soon notice that one star appears to have moved.  You can use this star chart to help you become more familiar with the stars in that region.

Just East of Hyades, you can’t miss the Great Orion Nebula, a bright star-forming region positioned within the “sword” of the constellation Orion.  Spend a little time scanning this entire region with a pair of binoculars.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised.  That bright orange-colored star at Orion’s eastern shoulder is Betelgeuse, a red-giant star similar to Aldebaran but seven times more distant.

Saving the best for last, an opportunity to see four open clusters with the crescent Moon.  Luna is positioned straight up from Hyades and is now almost four-days-old.  Use binoculars to look more closely and you’ll see that the moon is surrounded by stars – M35 is two degrees NE in the constellation Gemini, while M36, M37, and M38 are scattered across a ten-degree region W and S of the moon in the constellation Auriga.

Take some time this evening to go out and enjoy your sunset horizon.  The longer you look, the more you’ll find.  Who knows, maybe you’ll catch sight of a bright meteor or even run across a comet – C/2008 T2 is in Auriga, just three degrees from the Moon.

If you do see anything special, or capture any images, don’t hesitate to share!