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[Music]

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what's up for April the Seven Sisters

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meet the evening star Mars continues its

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getaway and unpacking the moon illusion

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at the beginning of April look to the

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west

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each evening in the couple of hours

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after sunset as Venus visits the

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Pleiades watch each night from the 1st

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through the 5th as Venus climbs higher

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in the sky evening crossing through the

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Pleiades star cluster the real highlight

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is on April 3rd when Venus will appear

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inside the Pleiades meaning it'll be in

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the same field of view through

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binoculars or a telescope with a wide

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field of view this should be spectacular

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if the weather's clear where you are

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so here's wishing you clear skies the

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planetary quartet of Jupiter Saturn Mars

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and the moon once again make a showing

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in mid April since giving Jupiter and

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Saturn the slip last month the red

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planet continues its getaway from the

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gas giants in this month's morning skies

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Mars begins the month just beneath

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Saturn but by the middle of April it's

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moved a decent distance away the moon

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swings by on the 14th 15th and 16th the

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three planets won't appear close

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together in the sky again for a couple

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of years so catch them now if you can

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and earth is currently catching up to

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Mars in its orbit as the two planets

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come into the right position for the

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launch of NASA's Mars 2020 mission and

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its newly named perseverance Rover most

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of us have had the experience of

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watching the full moon rise in the

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distance maybe over a city or a distant

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Mountain and it looks huge in fact it's

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got the very appropriate if

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unimaginative name of the moon illusion

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although this illusion has been known

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for thousands of years there still isn't

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a truly satisfying scientific

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explanation for why we see it now the

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moon is essentially the same width in

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the sky on any specific night whether

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it's rising setting or overhead there

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are a variety of experiments you can do

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to prove this for yourself photographers

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can simulate the moon illusion by taking

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shots of the moon low on the horizon

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using a long lens with buildings

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mountains or trees in the frame it's

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known not to be an optical effect of our

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atmosphere though the atmosphere does

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add to the

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yellowish color of the rising and

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setting moon much as it makes the rising

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and Setting Sun look redder even airline

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pilots and astronauts have reported

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seeing the moon illusion in the absence

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of trees buildings and mountains to help

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provide a sense of scale researchers

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have shown that it's definitely

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something going on in our brains that

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has to do with the way we perceive the

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size of distant objects near the horizon

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versus high in the sky but the precise

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explanation for why it happens is still

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elusive so until someone puzzles out

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exactly what our brains are up to it's

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probably best just to enjoy the moon

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illusion and the moody atmospheric and

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sometimes downright

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haunting vistas it creates here are the

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phases of the Moon for April you can

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catch up on all of NASA's current and

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future missions at nasa.gov I'm Preston

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dykes from NASA's Jet Propulsion