All articles tagged with #beehive cluster
In August, a rare celestial alignment allows viewers to see Mercury, the moon, and the Beehive Cluster in the pre-sunrise sky, with Mercury reaching its greatest elongation on August 19 and the moon guiding observers on August 21. Binoculars can enhance the viewing experience, and the event offers a unique opportunity to observe these objects before sunrise.
Venus will pass close by the Beehive Cluster today, and a free livestream of the celestial event will be hosted by astronomer Gianluca Masi and the Virtual Telescope Project. The Beehive Cluster, also known as Messier 44, is a dense cluster of stars in the Cancer constellation. Despite appearing to be in the midst of the buzzing "bees" of M44, Venus is actually much closer to Earth than the cluster. Venus will continue to brighten in the night sky this month as it approaches an inferior conjunction in August.
Venus will pass over the Beehive Cluster, a star cluster located in the constellation of Cancer, from Monday to Wednesday this week. The Beehive Cluster is a swarm of around 1,000 stars, stretching about three times the size of a full moon. The spectacle will be visible to the unaided eye, but clearer with a telescope or binoculars. The Beehive Cluster is one of the closest star clusters to our solar system and includes yellowish tinted stars which are red giants and blue main sequence stars. Stargazers should look north towards Castor and Pollux in Gemini and southeast for Cancer to spot the Beehive Cluster.
Mars will photobomb the Beehive Cluster, one of the most spectacular open clusters of stars in the night sky, over two nights this week. The Beehive Cluster's 1,000 stars formed just 600 million years ago and sits about 600 light-years from the solar system. Mars will be closest to the center of the cluster on Friday, June 2, and will be best seen in the western night sky a couple of hours after sunset. Astrophotographers will be able to catch the Red Planet among the 1,000 blue and yellow stars of M44.