Starwatch: moon cruises through the Hyades cluster

On the night of 29 September running into the morning of the 30th, the moon will cruise through the Hyades star cluster. As night falls on the 29th, neither the moon nor the Hyades will be visible from London. They will rise in the east around 21:30 BST, when the moon will be poised on the very tip of the star cluster.

The Hyades is in the constellation Taurus and forms an obvious V-shape of stars in the sky. As the night progresses, it will climb higher into the sky and the moon will move into its centre. The chart shows its position at 06:00 BST on the 30th. At this time, the moon will be approaching the bright red star of Aldebaran.

Although this is the star that makes it easiest to find the cluster, Aldebaran is not physically associated with the other stars. It is located around 65 light years from Earth, whereas the Hyades are roughly two-and-a-half times further. As sky watchers at the end of the month will see demonstrated, the cluster appears about three times the diameter of the full moon.