After Venus Encounters Jupiter

Venus and Jupiter get within 1.5° of each other on June 8th-9th. But as Venus continues moving across Cancer, it will next cross just above the Praesepe cluster (also called the Beehive Cluster), Messier 44.

Messier 44 is one of the bright open clusters - you can see it on a dark moonless night as a dim patch in the center of the Cancer constellation. The brighter stars show up with binoculars, and it’s a pretty cluster in small telescopes.

Setting Up the Encounter

Venus makes its closest approach on the evening of June 19th, and with binoculars you’ll be able to track its approach:

The Moon Gets There First!

On the 17th, the waxing crescent Moon also transits the cluster, with Venus nearby. This will be something of a challenge: the Moon is embedded in the cluster around 9:30 EDT, but that’s still at the end of astronomical twilight, so the sky will still be bright: by 10 PM it’s a little darker and the Moon is still in the eastern part of the cluster.

10 PM EDT

View in a small telescope

View in binoculars

Venus Arrives!

On the 19th, Venus reaches the cluster. No matter how you view it, it’s a sight.

View in a telescope

View in binoculars

In larger telescopes, under magnification, you can see that Venus has phases. Right now it’s still in a gibbous phase. Over June and into July, the planet will appear larger and more crescent-like, though it will be hugging the horizon after sunset. This is because Venus is “catching up” to Earth in its orbit, getting closer and closer until it reaches inferior conjunction when it will pass by the Sun on October 24th, after which it will once again become a “morning star” in the early AM sky.

For people with smart scopes - especially the Seestar S30 - you might be able to fit the cluster and the planet in the same field of view! The image shows the alignment with an equatorial mount. If you’re working with an alt/az mount, it might be rotated, but you should still be able to capture both objects.