Pleiades and waxing gibbous moon pair above the sunset sky tonight

On Jan. 27 a 76%-lit waxing gibbous moon will sit less than 5 degrees to the right of the Pleiades star cluster, which is about 440 light-years from Earth.

Tonight after sunset on Jan. 27 the waxing gibbous moon will appear close to the Pleiades open star cluster in the constellation Taurus. The moon will be about 76% illuminated and positioned less than 5 degrees to the right of the cluster at sunset. The Pleiades lie roughly 440 light-years from Earth, so the starlight began its journey centuries ago. Moonlight is expected to make naked-eye viewing less clear than on darker nights. Key details: - The Pleiades include the bright stars often called the "Seven Sisters": Asterope, Alcyone, Celaeno, Electra, Merope, Maia and Taygete. - At sunset the moon and the Pleiades will be close enough to fit within the field of view of 10x50 binoculars, which can help reveal the cluster's brighter members. - A telescope with about a 6-inch aperture will show many more, fainter stars in the cluster and reveal shadowed lunar craters near the terminator, such as Clavius and Tycho. - Over the course of the night the moon will appear to drift away from the Pleiades and is reported to set shortly after 3 a.m. local time on Jan. 28. - The article mentions Time and Date as a source for exact local rise and set times. Summary: Moonlight will make the Pleiades less prominent to the unaided eye, while binoculars and small telescopes can reveal different details of the cluster and the lunar surface. The moon will slowly move away from the Pleiades and set in the early morning hours of Jan. 28.