Look west before dawn on Nov. 6 to see a 94%‑lit Moon pass near the Pleiades in Taurus; the cluster will lie about 5° to the Moon's upper left and may be faint in the Moon's glare. 10x50 binoculars should reveal the Seven Sisters — Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygete, Asterope, Alcyone and Celaeno — plus many fainter members. About 5° lower left of the Pleiades is Uranus (mag +5.6), very hard to see without optical aid, though an 8‑inch or larger telescope can show it as a tiny blue disk.
Watch the Moon Meet the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) Before Dawn — Nov. 6
Look west before dawn on Nov. 6 to see a 94%‑lit Moon pass near the Pleiades in Taurus; the cluster will lie about 5° to the Moon's upper left and may be faint in the Moon's glare. 10x50 binoculars should reveal the Seven Sisters — Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygete, Asterope, Alcyone and Celaeno — plus many fainter members. About 5° lower left of the Pleiades is Uranus (mag +5.6), very hard to see without optical aid, though an 8‑inch or larger telescope can show it as a tiny blue disk.
06:48, 06.11.2025Science
See the Moon pass the Pleiades before sunrise on Nov. 6
Look toward the western sky in the hours before dawn on Nov. 6 to catch a nearly full Moon near the constellation Taurus and the Pleiades open cluster.
The 94%‑lit Moon will sit roughly halfway up the western sky in the predawn hours. The Pleiades will appear as a hazy patch about 5° to the Moon's upper left, though the cluster can be washed out in the glare of a near‑full Moon. As a handy rule of thumb, the width of your three middle fingers held at arm's length spans about 5° across the sky.
Binoculars make a big difference. A pair of 10x50 binoculars should reveal the seven brightest Pleiades members — Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygete, Asterope, Alcyone and Celaeno, the classic "Seven Sisters" — along with many fainter stars among the cluster's roughly 1,000 members.
About 5° lower-left of the Pleiades lies the patch of sky that contains Uranus. The distant ice giant has a visual magnitude of about +5.6, so it is extremely difficult to see with the unaided eye even under ideal dark-sky conditions.
Celestron NexStar 8SE
If you want closer views of the Pleiades or the Moon's cratered surface, the Celestron NexStar 8SE is a popular choice for beginners and experienced observers alike. It delivers crisp images across the field and can reach useful magnifications up to about 180x.
With a telescope aperture of 8 inches or larger, you can resolve Uranus as a tiny blue disk in the eyepiece under steady atmospheric conditions. That modest appearance belies the planet's scale: Uranus is roughly four times Earth's diameter and lies about 1.72 billion miles (2.78 billion kilometers) away.
For stargazers seeking closer views of solar system targets, consult roundups of the best telescope deals for 2025 and a nightly skywatching guide that lists November's top observing sights.
Editor's Note: If you'd like to share your photo of the Moon and the Pleiades with Space.com readers, please send your image(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.