The Moon Eclipses the Pleiades
April 1, 2006

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Summary: On Saturday, April 1st, the 16% crescent Moon passed directly in front of the Pleiades, a cluster of baby blue stars 400 light years from Earth. The occultation was visible from eastern and central parts of the United States: details.

Unless otherwise stated, all images are copyrighted by the photographers.

  Photographer, Location, Date Larger images Comments

Tim Printy,
Manchester, NH
Apr. 01
#1, #2, more

These two images show the start and end of the occultation. Unfortunately, here in Manchester,NH, the skies were cloudy for the two hours that elapsed between these two images! Images were 3-second exposures using a Nikon D70 set at ISO 800 and an Orion 120mm F5 refractor.

Howard Eskildsen,
Ocala, Florida
Apr. 02
#1, #2, #3

First two photos were taken 21 seconds apart just before and after occultation of a star. Last photo shows Alcyone shortly after emergence from occultation. Meade 6' f/8 refractor, MaxView 40 eyepiece, Nikon 4300

Thad V'Soske,
Colorado National Monument
Apr. 01
#1, more

The Pleiades star cluster (Messier 45) was very nicely visible so close to the bright waxing crescent moon. The twilight scene was visually stunning.

Stan Richard,
Turks and Caicos islands.
Apr. 01
#1, more

I captured this shot this evening at approx. 6:50 pm, thru the palm branches here at Club Med on the island of Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos islands. I used my Canon Digital Rebel on a tripod. I was still set up after taking a photo of a beautiful sunset here on the island and waited 45 min. for this beautiful 'night sky event'.

Bill Dickinson,
Glen Allen, Virginia, USA
Apr. 01
#1, #2

1) The earthshine moon with two of the seven sisters visible, Alcyone center left and Merope just above the moon. (4 sec ISO200 with Celeston 8 SCT and Nikon 5700) 2) The moon (1/125 sec sec ISO200 with Celeston 8 SCT and Nikon 5700)

Ron Hodges,
Midland Tx USA
Apr. 01
#1

Clouds barely cleared to get the begining of the eclipse . I was not able to see the ending due to my location . Tripod mounted , Rebel 300D , Sigma 135-400mm APO lens @ 400mm , f/5.6 , 2 x 2-secs , ISO 1600 .

David Marshall,
Clapham, Christ Church, Barbados
Apr. 01
#1

Even though passing clouds threatened to spoil the evening, the weather held up just long enough to allow me to view two of the stars disappear behind the Moon (which was wonderful to see!) and take some pictures in between. This one was taken with a Canon 300D at ISO 400, 0.8 sec.

Peter Ohrt Jr.,
Collingdale, Pennsylvania, USA
Apr. 01
#1

The view was spectacular with binoculars. This photo was taken at 8:43 pm with a Nikon D70s and an 80-400 VR zoom. (ISO 200 at 2 seconds)

more images: from Jim Tegerdine of Marysville, Washington; from Eugene Miller of Brooklyn, New York; from Derek Robson of Loughborough, England; from Caroline Hosch of Dunedin, Ontario, Canada;