This Week’s Night Sky: Lunar Wall and a Bull’s Eye
In the latest in a series of occultations, the red eye of Taurus disappears behind the moon.
From jewel-like stellar nurseries to a giant fault line on the moon, the night sky offers impressive cosmic views this week.
Highest and brightest is the crescent moon, followed below by Venus—the brightest starlike object in the entire sky—and finally, closest to the horizon, is ruddy Mars.
While the moon is no more than 1.25 light-seconds away, the stars that make up the Hyades association average some 147 light-years from Earth.
This occultation is part of a series that began in January and will conclude in September 2018. The series always begins in the far north, and it repeats itself every 18.6 years.
Check out a map and timetables of Tuesday’s lunar occultation of this bright star.
The fault line, which stretches 75
