Over the next few days, the planet Venus will transit the Pleiades star cluster. Tonight sees the planet about two degrees from the cluster center, tomorrow the planet will have closed to just over a degree from Merope. April 2nd and 3rd will see the planet essentially among the primary stars of the cluster. On the 2nd the planet will be only 25′ from Merope, on the 3rd it will be 14′ from Atlas.
At -4.4 magnitude the planet will be far brighter than the brightest stars of the cluster which are 3rd and 4th magnitude. Still, it should be an interesting sight to see the brilliant Venus surrounded by a cluster of stars.
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