What you can see from Ireland and Britain this week, the first week after the clocks go back. A full Hunter's Moon that covers stars of the Pleiades in the small hours of Wednesday, Saturn in the evening, Jupiter and Mars before dawn, the Taurids (honestly: a quiet shower this week), and our object of the week, the Pleiades. The story: why their distance once didn't add up, and how astronomers checked.

All times are for Dublin, in Greenwich Mean Time. In Britain, rising and setting times are earlier, by up to about half an hour in London. Sky positions were computed with PyEphem for 53.35° N and checked against published 2026 calendars.

Chapters

0:00 Welcome

0:58 The Moon

2:44 The planets

3:59 Shooting stars

4:33 Also this week

4:58 The Pleiades

5:40 How far away is it?

Sources

• Positions, rise and set times: computed with PyEphem (Dublin, 53.35° N, 6.26° W)

• Cross-checks: Sky at Night, "Planet alignment Nov–Dec 2026": https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/planet-alignment-november-december-2026

• Star Walk, Astronomy Calendar 2026: https://starwalk.space/en/news/astronomy-calendar-2026

• Derekscope, Astronomical Calendar 2026: https://derekscope.co.uk/astronomical-calendar-for-2026/

• Meteor showers: IMO 2026 Meteor Shower Calendar https://www.imo.net/files/meteor-shower/cal2026.pdf and AMS calendar https://www.amsmeteors.org/calendar/

• Space station passes: NASA Spot the Station https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ and https://www.heavens-above.com/

• NASA, Messier 45: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-45/

• NASA, Hubble refines distance to the Pleiades (2004): https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-refines-distance-to-pleiades-star-cluster

• NRAO, Radio telescopes settle controversy over distance to Pleiades (2014): https://public.nrao.edu/news/radio-telescopes-settle-controversy/

Narration: synthetic voice. Music: original.

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