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The Beehive Cluster is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. It is one of the nearest open clusters to the Solar System, and it contains a larger star population than most other nearby clusters.<\/p>\n
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Skywatchers brave enough to get up early on Monday morning will get the rare sight of a bright Venus close to one of the most beautiful open clusters of stars in the night sky. Earth\u2019s sister planet will dominate the pre-dawn night sky, with the Beehive Cluster \u2014 also called M44 \u2014 visible in the same field of view in a pair of binoculars. Here\u2019s how to see them together.<\/p>\n
Where And When To Look<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Aug. 31, be outside about 90 minutes before sunrise, facing east. In a clear sky, you\u2019ll see Venus \u2014 now 84%-lit, as seen through a telescope \u2014 shine as by far the brightest object in that part of the sky (-3.8 magnitude). Close to its lower-right will be the Beehive Cluster, easily visible through binoculars.<\/p>\n
Although Venus will shine brightly until sunrise, the Beehive Cluster will disappear from view as dawn breaks, so don\u2019t delay \u2014 you need to see this match-up in darkness.<\/p>\n
What You\u2019ll See<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve not seen Venus for a while, it\u2019s worth admiring in the pre-dawn sky \u2014 particularly because it\u2019s now past its best and will continue to shrink and lessen in brightness for the rest of the year. It will dominate the night sky, yet it\u2019s rare for it to get so close to the Beehive Cluster, which, by contrast, will be a more tenuous sight. It\u2019s in the faint constellation Cancer, between two bright stars \u2014 Regulus in Leo and Pollux in Gemini \u2014 and a pale yet dense cloud of stars.<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s rare meeting of Venus and the Beehive Cluster will be worth getting up for \u2014 if you bring binoculars.<\/p>\n
Stellarium<\/p>\n
Observing Tips<\/p>\n
While Venus is best seen with the naked eye (it\u2019s only worth seeing in a telescope when it\u2019s a slim crescent), the Beehive Cluster is one of the main reasons why experienced stargazers prioritise binoculars, not telescopes. Use any pair for this duo, placing them below and to the left of Venus, preferably when the sky is dark, before dawn strikes.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Next In The Night Sky<\/p>\n
A five-planet \u201cparade\u201d is happening in the east an hour before sunrise this week. It\u2019s dominated by Jupiter and Venus, with Saturn in the south, all three of which are visible to the naked eye. Neptune (close to Saturn) and Uranus require a telescope to see.<\/p>\n
Although the Beehive Cluster becomes a fabulous binocular object in spring evenings, its next conjunction comes on Oct. 5, 2026, when a crescent moon will pass through it in the east before dawn.<\/p>\n
For exact timings, use a sunrise and sunset calculator<\/a> for where you are, Stellarium Web<\/a> for a sky chart and Night Sky Tonight: Visible Planets at Your Location<\/a> for positions and rise\/set times for planets.<\/p>\n Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Beehive Cluster is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. It is one of the nearest open…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[305,64,63,76464,76463,14803,76465,128,4940,75910,12820],"class_list":{"0":"post-106393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-astronomy","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-beehive-cluster","12":"tag-m44","13":"tag-night-sky","14":"tag-planet-parade","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-stargazing","17":"tag-stargazing-september-2025","18":"tag-venus"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}