Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2020 April 11



Venus and the Pleiades in April

Image Credit & Copyright: Antonio Finazzi

Explanation: Shared around world in early April skies Venus, our brilliant evening star, wandered across the face of the lovely Pleiades star cluster. This timelapse image follows the path of the inner planet during the beautiful conjunction showing its daily approach to the stars of the Seven Sisters. From a composite of tracked exposures made with a telephoto lens, the field of view is also appropriate for binocular equipped skygazers. While the star cluster and planet were easily seen with the naked-eye, the spiky appearance of our sister planet in the picture is the result of a diffraction pattern produced by the camera's lens. All images were taken from a home garden in Chiuduno, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy, fortunate in good weather and clear spring nights.