Find the Hyades Star Cluster
The Hyades are the big cousin of the Pleiades. They are relatively close to the Pleiades, and are brighter, but they are also more diffuse (spread out), so the Pleiades are more famous. The Hyades are especially spectacular through binoculars.
Steps
- Start by finding Orion. Orion is very big and obvious, so it makes a good starting point.
- Go from the leftmost star in Orion's belt and up through Bellatrix (the star across from Betelgeuse).
- Continue in the same direction until you reach a V of stars. The bottom-left star in the V should be bright and red. This is Aldebaran. Be careful - if you reach the Pleiades, you've gone too far!
- This V of stars is the core of the Taurus constellation. It is also the Hyades cluster. Aldebaran isn't actually part of the cluster - it's closer, in between Earth and the Hyades.
- Zoom in on the V shape with binoculars. Without binoculars, you should be able to see the five main stars in the V, maybe a few more. With binoculars, the whole cluster jumps into view. When I tried it, I counted over 50 stars that I could only see with binoculars.
- Take some time to look around the cluster. You'll notice that the stars of the Hyades are relatively dim, and blue-white in colour. This is one of the first hints that Aldebaran, a bright, red star, is not a part of the cluster.
- Grab a telescope and look at the Hyades. One of the first things that you should notice through a telescope is that, unlike the Pleiades, the Hyades has little to no nebulosity. This indicates that it is an older cluster, and all of the star-forming material has been used up.
