On Monday night, the thin crescent moon appears close to the red planet Mars in the western sky. The two are in the winter zodiacal constellation Taurus, the bull. The two appear above the head of the bull, The Hyades.

The Hyades is the largest visible star clusters in our Milky Way and is certainly the closest. The star cluster is 151 light years away. In the books on the constellations, the star cluster is portrayed as a giant letter V. Aldebaran, the principal star in the constellation, the brighest is nestled in the star cluster. The star's proximity is only by appearance. Aldebaran is a lot closer, half the distance at 65 light years away.

Notice the planet Mars is considerably fainter than it was a short time ago. The planet is about as far from the Earth as it gets and this explains why it has lost most of its shine. Use the waxing moon to find the planet. Mars is distinctly red.